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Rottenwatch: Napoleon (2023)

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
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Ridley's Apple TV+ director's cut is currently 4 hours and 10 minutes long:


Napoleon, the upcoming historical epic from Ridley Scott, is getting a four-hour cut.

During an interview with Total Film, Scott revealed the extended cut is heading to Apple TV+ and is still over four hours long, despite attempts to cut it down.

“I’m working on it,” he said. “It was four [hours] 10 [minutes] this morning. And so what will happen is, we’ll screen [the theatrical cut] first with Sony, and then it has its run, and then the perfect thing is that [the director’s cut] goes to streaming, and we have four hours 10 minutes.”

According to Empire, the four-hour cut features more of Josephine’s life before she meets Napoleon. “It’s an astonishing story,” said Phoenix. “Hopefully we captured some of the most interesting moments.”
 

Toons

Member
Its probably nor hiatoricaly accurate but a pretty entertaining film regardless. May check it out but asking 4 hours of my time on one movie is a lot these days
 

SJRB

Gold Member
I all I read about this movie are 4chan greenposts about how historically inaccurate it is because Ridley Scott doesn't give a fuck, and how Napoleon is portrayed as an incel manchild, lol.
 

GHG

Gold Member
Its probably nor hiatoricaly accurate but a pretty entertaining film regardless. May check it out but asking 4 hours of my time on one movie is a lot these days

It's neither historically accurate or entertaining unfortunately.

There's some nice cinematography for some of the battle scenes but that's about it. Nothing was stand-out in this movie for me. I also don't think this was the right role for Phoenix.
 
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Hudo

Member
I got turned off by Scott basically saying that he didn't care much for historical accuracy. I mean, I already knew that this film could not touch Waterloo (1970) but I expected at least a bit of a standard of excellence.

So I am hesitant to go watch it... but I find the whole era and Napoleon himself really interesting so, I dunno.
 

Drake

Member
I've read that the film wasn't too good which really is a shame. I was looking forward to it. I'll watch it at some point, but definitely won't be seeing it in theaters.
 

GreenAlien

Member
According to Empire, the four-hour cut features more of Josephine’s life before she meets Napoleon. “It’s an astonishing story,” said Phoenix. “Hopefully we captured some of the most interesting moments.”

2 extra hours wasted. Who cares about Josephine? Might as well watch the theatrical cut.
 
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Cyberpunkd

Gold Member
I've read that the film wasn't too good which really is a shame. I was looking forward to it. I'll watch it at some point, but definitely won't be seeing it in theaters.
I’m sorry to be a nationalist but a Napoleon movie not made by the French doesn’t make sense. You don’t see Europeans making a biopic about George Washington, do you?
 

AgatonSax

Member
This is my favorite director. Has been since seeing Blade Runner in 1991 I will watch and buy the 4k for sure. The critics, as usual, can get bent
Absolutely. He will always have my attention for new projects. More so than pretty much any other director from the 1980’s. Certainly more so than Spielberg.
 

Majormaxxx

Member
I’m sorry to be a nationalist but a Napoleon movie not made by the French doesn’t make sense. You don’t see Europeans making a biopic about George Washington, do you?
That's like saying only Greeks can make a movie about Alexander. And only Egyptians can produce a biopic of Nefertiti. Bizarre take honestly.
 

Majormaxxx

Member
Its probably nor hiatoricaly accurate but a pretty entertaining film regardless. May check it out but asking 4 hours of my time on one movie is a lot these days
Yeah but at home you can watch the 4hr cut over Two days. Or before and after lunch on a weekend.
 

Cyberpunkd

Gold Member
That's like saying only Greeks can make a movie about Alexander. And only Egyptians can produce a biopic of Nefertiti. Bizarre take honestly.
Except Alexander is way back in the past. I always like to say: to understand France you need just three things: French Revolution, Napoleon and Charles de Gaulle.
 

Trogdor1123

Gold Member
I’m sorry to be a nationalist but a Napoleon movie not made by the French doesn’t make sense. You don’t see Europeans making a biopic about George Washington, do you?
Well, the French would surrender the second they were challenged for their funding request and it would never get made so we don’t need to worry about that.

Jk… sorta…
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member

Despite being plagued by harsh reviews from French critics and a derisive retaliation by director Ridley Scott, “Napoleon” had a strong opening in France on Wednesday, grossing an estimated $1.019 million from approximately 120,000 tickets sold on its opening day on Wednesday.

The French B.O. figure includes about 8,000 tickets sold at preview screenings across France, notably in Paris where Sony Pictures held a lavish world premiere of the historical epic on Nov. 14, a few days after the end of the SAG-AFTRA strike. “Napoleon”‘s French box office on accounts for nearly a third of the $3.578 million grossed by the film internationally since debuting on Wednesday. So far, the movie has grossed $11.303 million globally.

Napoleon,” which stars Joaquin Phoenix as the infamous French emperor and Vanessa Kirby as his wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais, has been panned by French critics over its alleged historical inaccuracies and anti-French stance. Additionally, Phoenix’s performance triggered some scoffing from reputable outlets, such as radio station France Culture which compared the actor’s Napoleon look to a “dusty wax figure.”

The harshest review came from the national newspaper Le Figaro, which wrote that the film could be renamed “Barbie and Ken Under the Empire.”
On TV, meanwhile, the polarizing movie has been hotly debated on talk shows, as well as on news channels such as BFMTV where politicians have weighed in on the movie. But Scott shrugged off vitriolic critics telling the BBC that “the French don’t even like themselves” when presented the negative reviews coming out of the country. His comments don’t seem to have discouraged French audiences from buying tickets.
 

Raven117

Member
I’m sorry to be a nationalist but a Napoleon movie not made by the French doesn’t make sense. You don’t see Europeans making a biopic about George Washington, do you?
What a stupid take.

I see this being a Kingdom of Heaven situation. The theatrical cut was meh but the directors cut is an absolute masterpiece.
Man, directors cut kingdom of heaven is awesome. Maybe I’ll just rewatch that and skip Napoleon for awhile.

And the French do hate themselves. But only they can admit that. And they hate you too.
i actually find the French quite pleasant
 
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StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
It's a big Hollywood movie based off a historical figure, not a documentary on PBS.

I'm no historian, but how realistic were Braveheart or Joan or Arc films? Probably not realistic at all.
 

Gp1

Member
Such a strange movie. Without considering the historical rights and wrongs, the production value is there, the performances are there (but Joaquin is on the autopilot), the big battles are there but the film feels just like a pile of triple A takes disjointed from one another.

As Dr_Salt said, it's definitely a Kingdom of Heaven case.
 
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Sakura

Member
It's a big Hollywood movie based off a historical figure, not a documentary on PBS.

I'm no historian, but how realistic were Braveheart or Joan or Arc films? Probably not realistic at all.
Braveheart was very inaccurate, but most people have no knowledge of the events the film is based on, so it is easily tolerated.

It's kind of like how a medical drama might have a lot of inaccuracies but still be well received, because 99% of the audience has limited knowledge of the subject matter. But inaccuracies in a show about say auto mechanics might be tolerated far less because the average person has some knowledge about cars and how they work.
Students all over the world learn about Napoleon (I remember learning about the Napoleonic wars in school). He and his exploits are much more well known to the general public than William Wallace, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if Braveheart was the first time many people even heard of the guy.
It might be a bit hypocritical to give one a pass and not the other, but when you notice something is wrong or inaccurate while watching a movie, I think it is understandable that it would affect your enjoyment.
 
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