Rick Keithley

I enjoyed the battle scenes...the scenery and locations were visually amazing, and the special effects were on point (the awesome scene where his horse takes a cannon ball to the chest comes to mind). For these aspects I am grateful that I viewed this film on the big screen. I also thought Phoenix's portrayal of Napoleon was undoubtedly one of his better performances that he will surely be recognized for. However....While I can appreciate the story line of his personal life and how it affected him emotionally, I felt that the movie sometimes portrayed him as being too weak and overly lovestruck, and not as the historic military genius that he actually was. It seemed like the movie was trying to be both a war time epic and a romantic comedy at the same time. I wish that it had gone "darker", concentrating more on the extensive bloodshed he was responsible for and his reputation of being the ruthless and unforgiving military commander that he is historically famous for in European legend. All in all, it was worth the watch, but the movie could have easily been 45 minutes shorter if there wasn't such a forced attempt to show a vulnerable human side to the man, along with the excessive "fill" moments that stretched the film into a 3 hour commitment (elaborate dinner/party scenes, mumbling bedroom talks and the extensive spotlight on Josephine and her/his inability to produce an heir, and Napoleon's long stares and contemplations that seemed to last just past the point of being uncomfortably too long). 4 stars out of 5 for me.