Spencer Kelly

I feel like this is going to be a case similar to Kingdom of Heaven...the runtime was too long and Scott was forced (yet again) to cut down his movie into something easier for theater viewers to stay for. I liked a lot of things about the movie. The cinematography really stands out. There are a lot of beautiful shots throughout the movie. The Battle of Waterloo scene is really well done and beautifully shot. The set design and costumes seem to be on point and very accurate to the period. The use of what sounds like Gregorian chants in the background as music feels very epic. Unfortunately, the pacing is very strange and the amount of time jumps is daunting. I think anyone had to go into this movie expecting a lot of time jumps with the amount of time and content Scott was trying to cover...but even I was surprised. Also, the way some of the time jumps were done seem to be covers for more obvious cuts that were made (particularly in the first 45 min of the film). The biggest disappointment for me was in Joaquin Phoenix's portrayal of one of history's most interesting men. Throughout the movie, Phoenix is mostly monotone and very cold. He shows very little emotion except a few fits of anger and rage. While its believed that Napoleon was somewhat socially awkward, this did subside later in life after he had spent more time with nobility and people of "higher society". Yet, throughout the film, Phoenix does not really develop the personality of Napoleon. Kirby does a very nice job with her acting and portrayal of Josephine. The actors playing lead roles as advisors to Napoleon also did well. It's just an unfortunate case of Phoenix not being the best choice (IMO) for this role. I think the people giving this movie 1 star went in expecting epic battle sequences one after another throughout all of Napoleons campaigns. IF that is your expectation, you WILL be dissapointed. Having said that, this did seem to fall a bit flat. I will be VERY interested to see the 4 hour directors cut version. As I said at the beginning, just like with Kingdom of Heaven, I believe the directors cut will make this movie shine brighter.