Napoleon
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: November 22, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 62 Critic Reviews
Positive:
34
Mixed:
26
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The GuardianPeter BradshawNov 14, 2023
Phoenix is the key to it all: a performance as robust as the glass of burgundy he knocks back: preening, brooding, seething and triumphing. Read full review
93
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzNov 20, 2023
For Napoleon, Scott gives every last little slice of himself – the dramatist, the set-piece strategist, even, and especially, the comedian – to deliver what just might be his late-career masterpiece. Read full review
91
Original-CinJohn KirkNov 16, 2023
It’s a tall order to deliver a portrayal of such an auspicious historical character. Little effort is made to glorify him, and Scott makes sure that the audience renders their own judgement on his significance in history. Read full review
90
The New York TimesManohla DargisNov 23, 2023
Napoleon is consistently surprising partly because it doesn’t conform to the conventions of mainstream historical epics, which is especially true of its startling, adamantly unromanticized title character. Read full review
90
UproxxMike RyanNov 14, 2023
If you’re looking to nitpick historical accuracy, Napoleon is going to drive you bonkers. But good gosh is it entertaining. And funny. Don’t forget funny. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperNov 20, 2023
As you’d expect, Ridley Scott’s sweeping, decades-spanning and magnificently filmed epic Napoleon is a stylized and violent interpretation of the life and times of one of the most famous and infamous military commanders and political leaders history has ever known — but it’s also a surprisingly funny indictment of a sniveling brute of a man who is utterly unaware of his shortcomings, so to speak. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubBrent SimonNov 21, 2023
Director Ridley Scott’s Napoleon sweeps aside this caricature, craftily sidestepping the pitfalls of many conventional biopics and delivering a highly involving work of psychological portraiture. Read full review
83
ColliderRoss BonaimeNov 14, 2023
Napoleon is a grand film, both in terms of Scott creating a story with a size we’ve rarely seen from him, and the bold, large choices made by a completely game Phoenix. Read full review
80
Film ThreatAlex SavelievDec 7, 2023
The result, while flawed, is glorious: majestic, atmospheric, visually stunning, led by two charismatic leads. Scott, at 86, shows the young ‘uns how it’s done. Read full review
80
NMELou ThomasDec 1, 2023
Lovers of the currently unfashionable historical epic, however, mostly aren’t eager to see Napoleon for the love story at its core. What they want is a battle – blood and thunder writ large. On this front, there’s little in modern cinema to equal what Scott and his team manage. Read full review
80
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeNov 22, 2023
Now 85, Scott again proves there is nobody so efficient at pressing contemporary technology to the limits. He also draws heroic performances from fleshy human beings Read full review
80
PolygonJoshua RiveraNov 21, 2023
Napoleon isn’t a movie about grand triumph, or about disastrous failure. It’s a story about masculine insecurity, and how it can reduce the world to violence. Read full review
80
Little White LiesHannah StrongNov 14, 2023
As entertainment Napoleon delivers without glorifying his military record or painting the man as a hero. It’s a story about power, obsession and exploitation – which arguably is the story of history itself. Read full review
80
The IndependentClarisse LoughreyNov 14, 2023
In short, it’s the life of Napoleon as only Scott can tell it, full of verve, spectacle, and machismo. Its battle scenes are thrilling, a throwback to the sort of spectacle no one in Hollywood – save, well, Ridley Scott – is interested in anymore. But it can be equally dispassionate, in a way that duly and accurately captures the man one contemporary described as “a chess master whose opponents happen to be the rest of humanity”. Read full review
80
Screen DailyTim GriersonNov 14, 2023
Napoleon features exceptional battle scenes as well as tart back-and-forths between these romantic combatants, resulting in a lavish, thoughtful drama that remains entranced and bemused by France’s most notorious emperor — a brilliant strategic mind who could not have been more insecure. Read full review
80
EmpireCatherine BrayNov 14, 2023
Scott's take on Napoleon is distinctively deadpan: a funny, idiosyncratic close-up of the man, rather than a broader, all-encompassing account. Read full review
80
Total FilmJordan FarleyNov 14, 2023
Epic in scope, intimate in execution, Napoleon is a thrilling, surprisingly funny account of the infamous French Emperor’s rise and fall. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinNov 14, 2023
The director’s 28th feature is a magnificent slab of dad cinema, with Phoenix a startling emperor and Vanessa Kirby brilliant as his wife. Read full review
80
BBCNicholas BarberNov 14, 2023
It feels like a tantalising trailer for the longer and presumably richer and deeper film that is still to come. Read full review
80
The Film VerdictAlonso DuraldeNov 14, 2023
The film’s epic nature embraces not only size and scope but also the exquisite craftsmanship on display, from the detail work of Janty Yates and Dave Crossman’s costumes to cinematographer Dariusz Wolski’s ability to differentiate a successful battle from a disastrous one simply through his lighting choices. Read full review
75
The AtlanticDavid SimsDec 8, 2023
How Scott is able to pump out these grandiose set pieces with such practiced ease (and a little CGI embellishment) is beyond me; he remains one of Hollywood’s finest craftsmen of action sequences, and I’ll miss him when he’s gone. Read full review
75
The Daily BeastNick SchagerNov 21, 2023
Envisions Napoleon as a complex mix of the imposing and the absurd, his dreams of conquest—and single-minded ability to make them a reality—matched by his folly and awkwardness. Read full review
75
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottNov 20, 2023
No one should mistake Scott’s Napoleon as an overtly political film. It’s true ambitions are to entertain and inform, in that order. Read full review
75
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenNov 17, 2023
It’s amusing, in a Barry Lyndon sort of way, but also feels a bit blinkered. Discounting Napoleon Bonaparte as a buffoon who merely benefitted from societal chaos does a disservice to the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, he left dead. Read full review
75
The Associated PressJake CoyleNov 16, 2023
Here is a sweeping historical tapestry — no one does it better today than Scott — with a damning, almost satirical portrait at its center. That mix — Scott’s spectacle and Phoenix’s the-emperor-has-no-clothes performance — makes Napoleon a rivetingly off-kilter experience. Read full review
75
The PlaylistSimon ThompsonNov 15, 2023
Napoleon is one of the handful of movies this year that benefits from being seen on a big screen. It’s an epic crowd-pleaser with a stellar cast who deliver top-notch performances and Scott’s best work since “The Martian.” Read full review
70
ABC NewsPeter TraversNov 22, 2023
Even when it goes off the rails, this epic take on the notorious French emperor boasts state-of-the-art battle scenes from master tactician Ridley Scott, 85, and a big acting swing from Joaquin Phoenix in a beast of a role that will keep you riveted. Read full review
70
IGNA.A. Dowd Nov 21, 2023
As a historical epic, Napoleon is handsome but a little impersonal – you can really feel the absence of texture lost in getting it down under three hours. But between the textbook bullet points, a very funny anti-Great Man biopic peeks through, thanks largely to Joaquin Phoenix’s performance as a Bonaparte who’s more boy than man. Read full review
70
Paste MagazineBrianna ZiglerNov 16, 2023
It is less a rich, twisty drama than a journey through a historical figure’s greatest hits, punctuated by more engrossing moments of vulnerability and intimacy that only leave you wishing there were more. Read full review
67
IndieWireDavid EhrlichNov 14, 2023
Waterloo makes for a clear and terrific setpiece that’s almost on par with the digital spectacle that Scott creates from the cold death of Austerlitz, but by that point Napoleon’s outsized ambitions have been long subsumed by a film so lost in its epic sweep that it’s become the butt of its own, frequently scathing joke. Read full review
65
CNNBrian LowryNov 15, 2023
The film, while technically superb, feels like it wins several battles but doesn’t entirely qualify as a success in terms of the overall war. Read full review
63
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenDec 1, 2023
As far as truly caring about anything that goes on in this epic, well, that’s a chore. And with a run time of more than 2½ hours, that chore becomes ever more burdensome as the minutes tick away. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliNov 22, 2023
Napoleon was without a doubt a complex and controversial character whose shadow loomed large over the first quarter of the 19th century. He deserves a better-focused, more passionate movie than the one Scott has provided. Read full review
63
USA TodayBrian TruittNov 20, 2023
Satirical comedy, battlefield brutality and personal tragedy mix yet never completely gel in Napoleon, a biopic starring Joaquin Phoenix as the mercurial title character. Read full review
60
We Got This CoveredSandeep SandhuNov 27, 2023
A beautifully shot film that doesn't quite conquer the big screen. Read full review
60
TimeStephanie ZacharekNov 22, 2023
It’s sometimes boring and pretentious and often a little silly, almost to the point—almost—of parody. But even with all its flaws tallied and noted like battlefield casualties, there’s still something mildly compelling about it. Read full review
60
The New YorkerAnthony LaneNov 22, 2023
If the movie falters, it’s because, as a bio-pic, it cannot do otherwise. Even the most expert of storytellers is defeated by the essential plotlessness of the form: one damn thing after another. Read full review
60
Rolling StoneDavid FearNov 21, 2023
Starting with the French revolution and ending with Monsieur Bonaparte’s no-bang-all-whimper exit from this mortal coil, the director’s sweeping, swaggering, occasionally stumbling history lesson is nothing more than an attempt to conjure up the road-show movie magic of yesteryear. Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeNov 20, 2023
A man, even a man as combative as Napoleon, amounts to more than the battles he has fought. And it is in this respect that the film is less successful. Read full review
60
ScreenCrushMatt SingerNov 16, 2023
At times, Napoleon is a costume drama. For long stretches, it is a bloody war film. And occasionally — in its best moments — it becomes a sordid and twisted love story about the unbreakable bond between two people: Napoleon Bonaparte, played by Joaquin Phoenix, and his wife Joséphine, played by Vanessa Kirby. Read full review
60
Screen RantGraeme GuttmannNov 16, 2023
It's a bold swing from the director and, despite it being tonally uneven and a bit messy, Napoleon can be still quite fun. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzNov 16, 2023
Napoleon isn’t a failure on anyone’s part. But it’s not a rousing success, either. It’s not really a rousing anything, which is the problem. Maybe Scott should have gone in even more on Phoenix’s quirks and mannerisms, which are the most purely entertaining things about the film. Whatever the case, it doesn’t quite measure up. Read full review
60
Time OutPhil de SemlyenNov 14, 2023
Ridley Scott delivers a spectacular but flavourless French history lesson. Read full review
60
Vanity FairRichard LawsonNov 14, 2023
Phoenix has always been good at depicting this kind of pathetic tyranny, deftly (and swiftly) shifting from bratty, toothless insouciance to genuine menace. The actor seems to get both the joke and the seriousness of the film, though I wish Scott were better at communicating that tone to the audience. Read full review
60
SlashfilmChris EvangelistaNov 14, 2023
The feeling persists that something is missing here. That Scott and company are merely lightly touching on things that require deeper exploration. Which brings me back again to that 4-hour director's cut. Read full review
56
TheWrapThelma AdamsNov 15, 2023
There’s spectacle aplenty — you, go, Sir Ridley Scott — but the overall effect of this dry, unintentionally funny epic is far from spectacular. Read full review
50
ObserverRex ReedNov 28, 2023
The result is a colossal bore that is never passionate, exciting, sexy or entertaining, with an ill-fated titled performance by Joaquin Phoenix that borders on catatonic. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangNov 23, 2023
Its glimmers of comic rage and generous helpings of battlefield carnage, though patchily entertaining on their own, never coalesce into a coherent reason for being. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreNov 21, 2023
One is left with the gnawing feeling that there isn’t much point to his Napoleon, that there are no messages/warnings for today in his narrative and that maybe his “take” on the character is more superficial than deep, more British monarchist than revolutionary and more set-pieces and romance than historically accurate and insightful. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsNov 21, 2023
Napoleon was many things, and with this dutiful career highlights reel, Phoenix and his director deliver glancing blows to as many aspects of the warrior-tyrant-genius-fool-lonely heart as cinematically possible in two and a half hours. Read full review
50
SlateDana StevensNov 16, 2023
As it is now, Napoleon plays more like a hastily compiled highlight reel of a life than the full-fledged historical epic its director seems to have intended. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineDerek SmithNov 16, 2023
More times than not, the film’s bursts of humor clash awkwardly with the far more frequent attempts at gravitas that the filmmakers strive for when our protagonist is in battle or engaged in political discussions. Read full review
50
VarietyPeter DebrugeNov 14, 2023
Dense without feeling rushed, then done without ever having really sprung to life, Napoleon seems determined to cover a great deal of ground over its not-insignificant running time. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyNov 14, 2023
For all its brawn and atmosphere and robustly choreographed combat, this is a distended historical tapestry too sprawling to remain compelling, particularly when its focus veers away from the central couple. Read full review
50
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiNov 14, 2023
It’s too bad Scott could not deliver a brilliant character study of one of the world’s great military leaders — and instead settled for letting a self-indulgent Phoenix fly over the cuckoo’s nest. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoNov 14, 2023
Say what you will about Scott’s most divisive movies—they’re usually big swings with big ideas. What’s so disheartening about “Napoleon” is how small it ultimately feels. Read full review
42
ConsequenceClint WorthingtonNov 16, 2023
Besides the gags, there’s little to grasp onto, and try as it might to echo Barry Lyndon’s naturally-lit tableaus, Scott’s film lacks that film’s acid-dry wit. Read full review
42
The Film StageFran HoepfnerNov 15, 2023
Napoleon is not a complete wash, mercifully, its strengths pooled in extended and gory battle sequences. You can feel Scott’s excitement at this material, how eager the film is to explain military strategy or blast a cannon through a soldier’s body. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)Alison WillmoreNov 22, 2023
Napoleon is not, thank god, a hagiography. But it has the faltering rhythms of a rough draft — it plays as though Scott gave up on trying to carve a good film out of what actually ended up on screen. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerNov 20, 2023
Try as he might to capture the political complexities of their relationship and how it was sacrificed because of the needs for an heir, Scott tells rather than shows (much as Napoleon's much-harped-upon mommy issues turn out to be a narrative and thematic dead end). It's all strategy, no tactics. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeOdie HendersonNov 21, 2023
Fierce and chaotic, the re-creations of war also fall short — the CGI in many scenes is shockingly bad. Whenever the movie threatens to become too dull, there’s a battle sequence. They start to blur together as the minutes slowly tick by. Read full review
37
Washington PostAnn HornadayNov 21, 2023
We don't need another hero, but when it comes to the man at its center, Napoleon could have used a lot more oomph. Read full review
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