I read the reviews of Ridley Scott's 'Napoleon' and knew it was not the great film everyone anticipated. Even so, I went. And what I discovered is that it's bad in the worst kind of way; It is dull. Lifeless. A flat un-involving story about characters who are in every way unlikable. Another reviewer wrote that he / she had trouble staying awake through its 2 hours 40 minutes run-time. When I read that I laughed. Now that I have seen the film, I am laughing no longer. Napoleon Bonaparte as Emperor of France did a lot of good things; much of the country's 'Civil Code' was instituted during his reign. But this film deals only with (a) Napoleon the warrior and (b) Napoleon the husband, and fails to deliver a well-rounded character in either sense. We know he loves France but aside from living there we don't know what drives his passion. His hatred for anything not France is clear, but the reasons for this hatred are never explained. There are battles a'plenty but the reason for them is elusive. Enemies become friends. Friends become enemies. We care about none of them. Thousands die. Somehow we care nothing about them either. There is, in Napoleon, no one to root for. Making matters worse there is an uneven performance by Joaquin Phoenix. His 'later' Napoleon becomes a different character than we'd seen earlier in the film. And no, I don't think it is attributed to Napoleon's rise in power. I think it's Phoenix; his acting, his portrayal. His Napoleon is far less quirky as the film progresses (as though the actor wants out of his role), and in this way, he is far less interesting. If there's anyone about whom we do care that character would be Josephine, Napoleon's wife and Empress of France. Vanessa Kirby is ravishing in the role. A rare beauty but one with a shadow-filled past as well as future. We can understand Napoleon's undying love her but the truth is, she's not the nicest girl on the block. There's little doubt that Mr. Bonaparte would never have 'won' her, were he not the country's future leader. So, again, no one to truly root for. Ah, yes. The battle scenes. They're fine (though it seems as though a battle fought at the base of Egypt's pyramids was cut out). But I think fewer battles and more unraveling of the reasons behind those battles between France, England, Russia, Austria, and other countries might make the remaining battles more meaningful. More involving. Which, as I said, this film is definitely not.

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