marius-bancila

I have decided to watch this series because I recently heard various good opinions about the show. I'd like to believe that I watched it so you don't have to.

In all honestly, it's based on some quite interesting plot: humans make contact with an alien species which then heads to Earth to colonize it. So what would humans do now?

However, the rest is lacking on all levels. The dialogs are childish, the characters are dry - there's no connection with anyone, the story is rushed, the end... well, I won't say anything about the end in case you still want to see it.

The only think this series excels at is diversity. Netflix outdone itself in this area. But seriously, are viewers in 2024 so naive to fall for a character that is a world-renown specialist in particle accelerators, can read the entire CERN software code in a couple of days, finds engineering solutions to space travel and many others. You can only laugh.

But then again, this was written by D&D, who butchers GoT in the last seasons, so it all makes sense.

Before watching this movies, I looked at the ratings and the 64 on Metacritic felt harsh. After watching the movie, that's exactly the score I'd give it, 6.5. So let me explain.

The movie follows more the relationship between Napoleon and Josephine than Napoleon's achievements and failures, as a general and emperor. But while Kirby nails the Josephine character, Napoleon is vapid. Josephine is alive but Napoleon is dead inside. Phoenix is amazing when he portraits disturbed characters, but Napoleon was silent, grumpy, tasteless. There are a few scenes when he loses his temper and there you can see Phoenix doing what he knows best. This was not a role for him. They put a lot of fictional things in the movie (shelling the pyramids, drowning at Austerliz), they should have let Phoenix put a little madness in Napoleon.

The music is great but not for this movie. It builds the background for a comedy of errors. If this was the intention then it succeeded. But if the movie was supposed to be an epic it failed badly.

The battle scenes are not terrible but not great either. The battle of Waterloo was a bit revival in the end but too late to save anything.

Overall I give 10 to Josephine, 7 for battle scenes, 5 for Napoleon and 3 for the music.

I was hooked after the first episode of the show. The next day, I went to a bookshop, bought the book, and started reading it. I read a part then watch another episode and so on. I was surprised of how well the script followed the book. There are plenty of dialogs that are identical to the ones in the book. There is very rarely that you find something like this and that made me like it even more.

Now, of course, there are also things that they changed. In typical Netflix style they made a character black, another one gay, and even made Beth have a lesbian adventure. They also made some significant changes towards the end, when Jolene not just helps Beth overcome alcohol addiction but also lends her money to go to Moscow.

But apart from that the story mostly goes like in the book. The show definitely is worth watching.