When Napoleon escaped from Elba in 1815, his march to Paris was stopped by 6,000 French soldiers under the command of Marshall Ney who had promised Louis XVIII that he would bring “the monster” to the French capital in an iron cage. Napoleon marched toward the soldiers, opened his coat, and declared, “If there is any man among you who would kill his emperor, here I stand!” The soldiers responded with, “Vive l’Empereur!”
If those soldiers had seen Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon,” they would have helped Ney stuff Bonaparte in the cage with pleasure. It’s not that the movie looks cheap (the $200 million budget is obvious) or that it lacks star power. It’s that Scott has made not so much a movie but a husk in period costume.
Take the theme. All good movies can be wrapped up by one simple PSA-esque sentence. “Casablanca”? You have to think of the greater good. “Star Wars”? Good will triumph. “The Prestige”? Your obsession will destroy you.
But the theme of Scott’s “Napoleon” remains bafflingly obtuse. Is it about how hubris will destroy you? Maybe, except that Joaquin Phoenix’s Napoleon does not come across as ambitious. He does things, yes, but almost always after someone else has put the idea in his head. Ultimate survivor, Tallyrand, suggests that Napoleon declare himself king, and presto! — three scenes later we see his coronation as emperor (why emperor and not king we are never told).
Is it about the dark side of destiny?
