Review by andrei1981-1

Ridley Scott has tricked me. I really thought I was going to watch a movie about Napoleon. But two hours into it I realized I'm actually watching a movie about the English. Scott made short shrift of Napoleon's victories and spent 40 minutes on Waterloo. One of the greatest tactical minds in history and the man who terrorized the whole of Europe is reduced here to a grotesque caricature. Phoenix, otherwise an excellent actor, lacks charisma as Napoleon and the two protagonists (Napoleon and Josephine) have zero chemistry. Given the hype created around it, I consider the movie a flop. Scott has fallen knee deep into the trap of artistic hubris, as he arrogantly believes he's entitled to remake and reshape historical figures with impunity. If he wants full freedom, there's always fiction, an endless reservoir of stories, but when you're bringing to the screen one of the most (in)famous characters in history, more reverence is needed. Scott's iconoclastic bravado is now being punished by the public. It makes me very nervous to think that he's working on a new Gladiator. That's truly bad news.