With Ridley Scott’s debut feature film The Duelists (1977) being set during the Napoleonic wars, it’s kinda poetic that he has returned to the subject of those times nearly fifty years later. One of the many memorable aspects of Scott’s filmmaking, which makes him stand out amongst his peers, is his ability to place historical battle sequences upon the silver screen that are completely immersive, take your breath away, kinda deals. Napoleon is no different. 

 

A film of bloody violence, fury, and chaos, director Ridley Scott masterfully immerses us into the life, love, and war of one of history’s most colourful and divisive figures. See it on the biggest screen possible. 

 

Napoleon is a spectacle-filled action epic that details the chequered rise and fall of the iconic French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, played by Oscar®-winner Joaquin Phoenix. Against a stunning backdrop of large-scale filmmaking orchestrated by legendary director Ridley Scott, the film captures Bonaparte's relentless journey to power through the prism of his addictive, volatile relationship with his one true love, Josephine, showcasing his visionary military and political tactics against some of the most dynamic practical battle sequences ever filmed.

 

Gone are the days when filmmakers attempt to tell the entirety of a historical figure's journey from the cradle to the grave. Here Scott narratively draws us in not only with the utter ferocity of the battle sequences (more on that later) but the very heart of the film: the toxic relationship between Napoleon and Josephine. He subtly uses one to mirror the other to a powerful, devastating effect. 

 

Even though we’re not bombarded with battle sequence after battle sequence, the ones we do encounter are pure chaos, with soldiers battered, bloodied, and bewildered. It’s exactly the picture that is painted by accounts of the time that these battles weren’t some orderly occasion, but were pure carnage. We even witness a horse getting hit by a cannonball, straight to the chest. Utterly insane. 

 

When you think of a historical war film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Joaquin Phoenix, you couldn’t imagine them ever being upstaged by anyone. Although Phoenix is outstanding as Napoleon, Vanessa Kirby, like Jodie Comer in Scott’s The Last Duel, steals every scene. This is her film and a further announcement that she will be one of the leading actresses of her generation. 

 

A film of bloody violence, fury, and chaos, director Ridley Scott masterfully immerses us into the life, love, and war of one of history’s most colourful and divisive figures. See it on the biggest screen possible.