Jared Pinkerton

The film decided that it didn’t like Napoleon and that is the tone the entire movie takes. The rushed pace of a biopic left out a lot, which was expected, but they cut out many of the moments in Napoleons career that turned a nobody into a legend. Character building around Napoleon was mostly to show how awkward, weird, and insecure he was. Criticisms on Napoleon are fair as millions died in his wake but he revolutionized warfare and defined an era of history. One of the reasons Napoleon was so successful was his ability to connect with his troops and inspire the everyday person to pick up a rifle and fight for every inch. This film has absolutely none of that - zero. He is unlikable the entire movie and he falls forward into every advancement he makes in his journey. When Napoleon is crowned Emperor you are really given no idea why… makes even less since when the movie starts with the French Revolution executing royalist. Crowds are cheering his name in several parts but the movie gives you very little to understand why outside of he was winning battles. I think they should have covered the Army of Italy and how Napoleon took a small, ill-equipped, and starved army to victories that literally no one at the time thought could be possible. He did so by being inspirational to his men, inventive in his approach, and unbeatable in strategy - movie showed absolutely nothing about those traits nor gave us anything like that in the actual battle scenes. This is my favorite type of movie and I counted down the days from when it was announced. Sadly, the film fell short of my expectation and took one of the most interesting stories in human history and made it a story about a man who was awkward and really into his wife. The frustrating part for me is that his life didn’t need dramatization- so many interesting stories and moments that could have carried this film into greatness. Edit: After thinking it over some more, I updated to two stars for a few different reasons. The casting was done really well in my opinion, the acting was great, and I thought Ridley Scott did a phenomenal job for all that is worth. It was just a bad script and my review is focused on that. You take all of the things I just named and give it a proper script it could have been one of the greats.