'Napoleon' is Everything Wrong With Biopics
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- Опубліковано 22 тра 2024
- Ridley Scott's 'Napoleon' is a historical distortionist mess, a defamatory assault on Napoleon and a terrible movie. What a waste...
Historically Adequate's channel:
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Timestamps
00:00 - Historical integrity matters
08:23 - Historical inaccuracy
26:06 - Defamatory portrayal of Napoleon
27:28 - Joaquin Phoenix is atrocious as Napoleon
30:02 - A few positives
31:03 - Greatest hits format
43:06 - Characterization
52:03 - Contextualization
1:03:02 - Lacklustre battle scenes
1:05:53 - Deconstruction of ALL male heroes (both real & fictional)
1:10:53 - Lack of detail in battles / reliance on CGI
1:14:30 - Scott tries to depict Napoleon as a butcher
1:17:35 - Vive L'Empereur!
Link to original video:
• 'Napoleon' is Everythi... - Розваги
This is a reup of a video I posted a few days ago. The original (link in description) was demonetized for references to the Ridley Scott’s Napoleon’s carnal appetites (probably). I have corrected historical errors I made in the previous video. There is also a new section about Thomas Alexandre Dumas, which you can view at 53:39.
What was your favourite part of Ridley Scott’s Napoleon? Mine was when Marshal Morbius flew across the battlefield of Borodino to deliver an urgent message to Napoleon, and upon reaching him, breathlessly exclaimed the famous line: ‘My Emperor, Ney was in the Amazon with my mom when she was researching spiders right before she died.’
Always look forward to your vids, but most of all your coverage of "biopics". Have watched your Cleopatra one 10x and it's still funny. The body positivity Advert breakdown is a criminally underrated masterpiece in your collection. Please keep starting your video essays with history lessons when possible, it's one of the best parts!
Back and improved! Never let the corrupt media silence you!
My favorite part was when the Death Star fired at Napoleon during the Battle of Waterloo, but Marshal Ney deflected the laser shouting "Long live the Rebellion".
My favorite part was when Napoleon destroyed Alderaan, with his top ranking Moffs present, in their new small moon sized orbital base, to intimidate the Princess, and try to find out the location of the Rebel Alliance.
@@spokajutlandandmetallurgis3404 dude, you went for it too!
My grandmother used to tell me: “I don’t care what they tell you, Napoleon was an emotional, punk bitch.” I always knew my grandmother was the ultimate source of knowledge on history. Thank you, grandma.
Ha! I get that reference!
This is gold lmao
@@cpcw06 What is the reference?
@@Freshanatha "I don't care what they tell you, Cleopatra was black" by someone's grandmother in Netflix's Cleopatra
@@Freshanatha it is making fun of the ridiculous Cleopatra "documentary " that came out a bit ago. One of their "experts" said something very similar
Sorry, as a bit of a history buff. I know from my studies that both Napoleon and Cleopatra did in fact shoot lazers at the 12 pyramids of giza.
My grandmother told me.
And Napoleon was a strong bisexual women of color who don't need no man.
I like how Napoleon was like “It’s Napoleon time” the Napoleon’d all over the pyramids.
I don't care what anyone tells you, Napoleon was a black man. (Trust me, I was there.)
@@liamrichardson6830 no, no, no, he was a asian furry, trust me, my mother said that
@@gregerjohn8728 no no no.
That is profoundly incorrect.
Napoleon Wellington was a Welsh borne scotish-swedish national of black descent.
Nah you're tripping. The scene where Napoleon conquers Antarctica's army of penguins by firing on the igloos? Masterpiece.
This! I still am heard screaming terrifying "Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!" while asleep.
You forgot the part where he and his army fought a demented Elder Thing and it's thousand Shoggoths, man. Tekeli‑li! Tekeli‑li!
Nah, that's the plot of the Mario Movie
Napoleon VS Penguins >>> Historical accuracy
It seems like you forgot h only managed it thanks to his loyal henchmen : Trotsky and his local penguins legions.
"I don't know if he actually shot the pyramids, I just thought it looked cool"
YOURE LITERALLY THE *DIRECTOR* OF A HISTORICAL FILM, ITS YOUR _ONE JOB_ TO LOOK AT WHAT HE DID AND DIDNT DO BEFORE YOU SHOOT A SCENE💀💀💀💀
Funny enough Stanley Kubrick wanted to do this exact concept. However he couldn’t get the film’s script under 8 hours and the budget under 700 million adjusted for inflation. Keep that in mind
At least Kubrick realised the sheer scope and scale of the story he was trying to tell.
Kudos to Kubrick for understanding that the life story of a top 3 all time human historical figure and warlord could not be compressed into a single movie.
@@TheStraightestWhitest
Just out of curiosity, can you give us your top 5 of historical figures and warlords? No criticim or anything, just genuenly peeked my interest who the rest of that list it.
@@Kmodal It gets a bit muddy when you start qualifying because you'd have to determine what makes a great leader/warlord, but I'd say Alexander The Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, Genghis Khan, and Augustus and Julius Caesar. Of course there's plenty of others, like Alexander's many generals (Ptolemy being the best example), or just about any of the Roman Emperors all the way into the Anglo Saxon era like Henry IV, Charlemagne, and Charles VI. But as a whole, I rate these first five greater than the rest based on how far they expanded into the world. Augustus and Julius literally made an empire where the sun never set. Genghis made a dynasty that controlled all of China. Alexander and Napoleon basically possessed all of Europe. These guys were literally continental to multi-continental in their reach and power. That's even more impressive than simply dominating one or a few countries.
@@Kmodal look up "The Nine Worthies", it's a fun rabbit hole for history buffs at least.
They should have casted Napoleon with a dwarf to please Peter Dinklege, annoy the French, and turn it into a comedy for the rest of us. Most importantly have the dwarf play it straight but make sure the sound editor gives him a high pitched voice
They did call him the little general
Hilarious
Like, the old cartoons! His hat is almost bigger than he was,
and he has to get lifted up to ride his horse!
Marlon Wayans was perfect for the part, he's played little men before.
Please i want to See this Version 😂
Napoleon, like Caesar, Alexander, Genghis Khan, and all other career military conquerors, had a life that can't possibly be sufficiently covered in one movie. These dudes fought dozens of battles. You could devote whole seasons to their many campaigns/theatres of operation and literally have the actors portraying them age appropriately as the seasons wore on, from young ambitious upstart to weary and tired general.
Just think about it: A 13 season epic about Alexander the Great, each season devoted to a year of his stomping through Asia (with flashbacks to his upbringing and his father peppered throughout). That will never be made. But it would be the most historically accurate and totally awesome television spectacle if it did.
A TV show where scriptwriters, producers and directors would not see historical accuracy as a direct attack to their egos? Where they would understand that history itself is far, far more interesting than anything they may consider the audiences (that they usually consider as being plain stupid) couldn't understand, follow or think would be boring? Might as well wait for pigs to grow wings and fly indeed.
and Hannibal (history march made really good videos for history junkies btw ;) )
True, but in N1's case, you could make a compelling movie about his rise, and dare I say, fight against the establishment (being a Corsican in France) and up to Marengo.
Or, like Waterloo, concentrate on his demise
Or, use Borodino and show him at his most arrogant
This is why the Japanese have Taiga dramas.
They get a little bogged down in the "drama" aspect, and thus can be a bit tedious ,but they are 80-90% faithful to their subject matter precisely because they actually spend the time to tell the story over multiple episodes, with no detail (even folk/myth stuff) left out.
Reality is both more interesting, but harder to dramatize, especially when there's a ton of details that need to be filled in.
Most ignorant Western audiences have no time for that
What exactly would be so awesome about seeing the same tedious slaughter every episode?
there are 2 possibilities with joaquin phoenix:
1. he was told to act the way he did
2. he hated having to be in this movie
Very possible. This dude is intoxicated with extremely toxic esg aligned agenda that we could see during Oscars when he got one for Joker role.
Or the buzz from joker got him to think playing an emotional cry baby feel bad for me cuck is the right thing to do in every movie
Scott said in some interview that Joaquin didn't feel the original writing had any character. I suspect part of Napoleon's character in this movie comes from Phoenix. I quite liked it as a movie - maybe not a historical one, but I actually really enjoyed Phoenix's performance of a vain, slightly mad, neurotic man.
Maybe he is overratted
My favorite part was at the battle of Waterloo, when Guyladriel, Assoka, and Harry Potter raised their four swords and shouted WAKANDA FOREVA and led a charge with their Klingon volunteers, decimating the French infantry and shifting the fate of the battle. Not even Asterix and Obelix could resist them for too long...
If Gamling just followed the king’s banner down the middle, Napoleon wouldn’t have had to lose the Death Star to Starscream’s attack and Waterloo could have been different.
@@chazzitz-wh4ly transformers! I knew I'd left some franchise out...
I don’t think any of that is true…
@@alexmartin3143 You sure??
@@alexmartin3143 I don't think anything that's in the movie is true either...
I loved the ending when Velma shows up and takes off Napoleon's mask, revealing that he was actually Cleopatra the whole time.
How do you not have more likes?
My grandmother always told me that Napoleon was a black woman
And she would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for those meddling kids!
Fucking LoL 🤣
Then Velma twerks on his corpse.
I remember my grandfather telling me that Napoleon fought Galadriel to protect the orcs within his army from her genocidal bloodlust.
the most realistic thing in both of these universes
The jump from Russia to Elba - skipping the whole of 1813 including the battle that actually brought Napoleon to a most likely decline (Leipzig) - was what infuriated me the most.
His rise through his Italy campaign in the 1790ies was not featured... nor were the wars of the 4th and 5th coalition. But to omit the whole 1813 was the real dealbreaker for me.
You never get a feel that Napoleon is ever in control of what he is doing/planning... why he became so powerful. He seems to be just stumbling through his years being a passenger of his own feelings towards Josephine and if there is war or peace... who really cares!?
That's the impression I could have gotten from that character would I have not known better history.
On the contrast to Leipzig Waterloo was shown like 20min - felt like 30 - and for big parts showing Wellington. Napoleon appeared to be passive for most of the battle - until he rode into the masses.
Of course, this film was after all directed by an Englishman, Ridley Scott. English history usually tends to omit the battle of nations in Leipzig, simply because the British didn't fight there, while giving Waterloo much more importance than it actually had, because that's where the British army defeated Napoleon. The fact that Prussia also fought in Waterloo is usually an afterthought, and that the battle at Leipzig was the biggest battle in history up until the 20th century and the actual battle that brought the Napoleonic empire to an end is completely unheard of.
@@onurbschrednei4569 You 100% expressed my thoughts. Same applies for WW2, where the Anglophones tend to believe they defeated NaziGermany alone or at least downplay the Sovietunion (if it is that they are even mentioned)... basically they were fighting the too young and the too old after 5 years of war.
Okay, sorry for OT, I just see some similarities.
@@luitpoldwalterstorffer2446 Yep. Waterloo was one of the most overrated and overhyped battles in history. Napoleon was doomed the moment he returned from Elba, even if managed to won at Waterloo nothing changes.
First, because entire Europe united against him again (apart from Allies in Belgium even bigger army of Russians & Austrians were marching from the East). Second, Napoleon had hoped for massive mobilization, but he managed to mobilize only ~150.000 troops (and some of them were diverted to Vendee to fight the royalist uprising).
Not to mention many French soldiers didn't even have proper uniforms, something that British propaganda never mention... not they mention how Brits bought teeth of fallen soldiers from various European battlefields (including Waterloo!) and even remains and used it as a fertiIizer in Yorkshire (it was cheaper than bird's fertiIizer).
Leipzig? You mean his most famed victory and strategical masterpiece
Ridley Scott's response to people criticizing him being ahistorical as "Were you there? No? Then shut up" had me in stitches. Shut down all historical fields except for contemporary history folks.
Specifically only the contemporary historians who were actually present at the events as they were occurring.
Damn, he must be consulting for criticism responses from the 3rd best video gamer of all time, Todd Todgers.
Obviously, Ridley Scott WAS there.
Which apparently means HE was there with that type of retarded question. XD
“The Holocaust was horrible!”
“Were you there? No? Then shut up!”
My favorite scene is when Greta Thunberg told Napoleon "How dare you?" After Napoleon had decided to just Napoleon all over the Pyramids in Gaza, I'm really happy he finally checked his white privilage at that moment.
After he declared “It’s Napoleon time”
“Ooooh, he Napoleon’d”
Are these Napoleon meme comments common now? I’ve seen them pop up various places seemingly out of nowhere.
@@AlcoholicBoredommy grandma always told me, no matter what they tell you in UA-cam, Cleopatra was Napoleon's empress.
Giza*
My favorite scene is when Barbie neutered Napoleon with a pink lightsaber. So empowering!
To me, the biggest crime of this movie is the desaturated colour palette. They spent so much on those fabulous costumes, and they manage to make them look so drab.
Napoleon throwing Food on his wife from the other side of table like a spoiled little child is more than enough to suggest how serious Ridely was about the portrayal of Napoleon while producing this movie.
When a nasty ideology is attacking your country, it doesn't just attack your culture, movies, comix, books etc, it also wants to destroy your real heroes and rewrite your history.
The people attacking western culture call themselves progressives. Progressive is the first of many words they have corrupted. There's nothing new about their actions
What did you expect? A British movie director making a movie out of French national hero.
@@valder8423 I expected a good movie. Ridley produced good movies in the past. I was hopeful that he would produce a very good movie about napoleon and his life after watching the trailer. I was looking forward to watch it despite the fact that I am neither British, French or anywhere from Europe. I am from India and I want to watch real cinema, truly beautiful quality movies with amazing stories. ( Bollywood movies are nothing but romantic musical piece of garbage and completely creatively bankrupt). Some Historical inaccuracies are fine but complete character assassination of napoleon just killed all my interest in the movie. I heard that they will release 4 hours long director's cut. May be that would be interesting to watch.
"Shut up and eat your tots, you fat lard. Ugh!"
-- Napoleon in this movie, probably
@@cenationofjnu Hollywood hates the audience, a four hour cut will be twice as aggravating as the original movie. Also, I heard RRR is supposed to be really good, and I've seen some Bollywood movies about the past which are fun, specially the over the top battles. I don't know how historically accurate they are though,
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter was a more historically accurate film than this, change my mind.
Incorrect, they did not have cows during the time of Abraham Lincoln. They had large red dogs named Clifford.
And that movie was actually fun to watch
But it’s true though.
He did hunt vampires.
The movie said so, duh lol
@@popothethird1733
True lol I wonder when they’ll make a movie of JFK hunting aliens or Teddy Roosevelt hunting werewolves.
@@DavidMartinez-ce3lp
False!
They actually had talking train engines, most notably that of Thomas the Train!
This movie was all about Josephine, and how she was sooooo important to Napoleon, according to Scott. What's worse is that Ridley wants to make a director's cut that has more Josephine in it. As if we didnt get enough of that in a movie not named after her (might as well have been that way)
Napoleon looks like they took his state of mind when he spent his last days on St-Helens island and kept it for his entire life
"why is Napoleon so bored all the time" was running through my mind the whole movie
It’s funny you say this because I agree, & there were parts where Phoenix seemed bored & detached to the point where I wondered if he were sedated, perhaps on opioids or Xanax. Ofc I hope that’s not the case, but the portrayal was the opposite of how ppl think of napoleon as being a bundle of energy & vitality.
Turns out Nappy was a Millennial.
@@scarletsletter4466 i think he were luke skywalkered Ryan R. Style by Scott, even got told from Scene to Scene what He should show. No Character Arc requiered. The Icing on the Cake is the Waiste of such Talent as an Actor. Phoenix surely did know of the Age discrepances, but do not take the Role, who can blame Him for not stepping back.
bro did not want to be there 😭
Can't be portraying a powerful historical man as a strong, virile, wise, secure leader in the current year! God is this a sad time to be alive.....
I think ABBA did a better job of covering Napoleon than Ridley Scott.
And the Grammy for "Best Comment for a UA-cam Video" goes to......
Take my like, you hilarious bastard
Bill and Ted Better
@@saminchowdhury2509 something strange is afoot at the circle k.
I learned everything I ever needed to know about Napoleon’s penultimate battle from ABBA.
Yeahhhh, I’m pretty sure Ridley Scott lost the fuckin’ plot at some point. Who tf makes a movie about Napoleon where he spends the entire thing being pathetically obsessed with his cheating ex wife? That could’ve been 10% of the movie, not 80% there might’ve been 2 good scenes total it wasn’t shoehorned into.
"Whatever happened in Italy and Spain was unimportant, I'd rather a Napoleon movie feel like it's almost half dialogue with Josephine," said not a single soul on the planet.
Imagine a historically accurate seven-season-long show, each season dedicated to a Coalition War.
Ridley Scott pretty much shat on Napoleon and covered that pile with Phoenix and his reputation.
In one of the recent interviews Phoenix said that he tried to work with Scott on overall understanding of his character, arc and motivation, but got something like “I’ll tell you how to portray him on a scene to scene basis” in response.
I can believe that. Phoenix is one of the most committed actors working today, whereas Ridley Scott’s been all over the place since at least _Prometheus._
This video is a triumph.....much like Napoleon's triumph at the battle of Helm's Deep, where his strategic use of the Genesis device allowed him to defeat Thanos and the Death Eaters once and for all. History tells us that he bellowed "BOATS!" as he lead the final charge of the 300 Spartans.
I hope that moment makes it into Scott's extended cut of the film.
That only happened because the T-800 failed to kill Scott Pilgrim before Goku’s Spirit Bomb was ready.
@@chazzitz-wh4ly Truth!
🤣🤣🤣🤣😭😂👿@@chazzitz-wh4ly
I hate your comment but it made me laugh!
Just wait for the sequel: Napoleon 2
where Captain Marvel and Barbie finally joined forces to stop Napoleon and Palpatine! The emperors just returned somehow
You video essays are the best on youtube not only because of your deep analysis of the tangible problems related to production and the content itself but also because you shine a light at the true problem behind it, the "how" and "why", something that many, many, many other critics that share the same reactions as you simply decide to ignore or dance around it. Maybe for fear of being blacklisted or shadowbanned.
Another brilliant video. Congratulations.
"You think you're so great because you have books !!! 😤😤😤" -- Ridley Scott
I don't blame Joaquin Pheonix for his portrayal. It's an actors job to bring a directors vision to life. We've seen him act before, I bet he just doing what Ridley Scott wanted him to do.
A good actor knows when to walk out too though. A good example would be Henry Cavill. Otherwise you have the Nicholas Cage/ Dwayne Johnson/ Will Smith effect where you ostracize yourself through your own popularity, becoming not recognized for your work but your notoriety and thus drawing unwanted attention to your flaws and so your legacy as a whole.
He was just miscast. Wrong person for the job. Even for the greatest actors, there are roles they are simply not suited for.
henry cavill's case is different. that is a tv series, him leaving after some seasons is different than actor leaving in mid movie. there's no need to fanboy actors like that.@@personwhohasayoutubechannel3
@personwhohasayoutubechannel3 if I have no real connection to the person I'm portraying, why not get that check? Nobody is saying it was a bad movie, it's just a bad portrayal of Napoleon. I personally wouldn't do a bad portrayal of MLK, because I'm african american, but if an african or British actor did it, i can't be mad, he's not one of their heros🤷🏿♂️
@@personwhohasayoutubechannel3 Backing out of a multi-million dollar project half way through production is a easy way to end your career as an actor, and while it may not be that evident currently, henry's career is likely going to decline due to his actions, at least in terms of a series... Historically its rare for a show to survive after a core character goes through an actor swap..it just feels bad for the viewer and the show usually flops afterward...i find it hard to believe that studios wouldn't consider avoiding actors that flake out over creative differences, We fans may appreciate it when an actor stands up for the original story, but believe me , the people spending millions on these productions most certainly don't
I loved that scene when Napoleon was conquering the alien colony on Antarctica where he charged into battle screaming, "Enough is enough! I have had it with these motherf**king aliens on this motherf**king continent!!"
Wow. It really does seem like he made this in order to slander Napoleon.
Excellent. I've just discovered your channel, and this is the first video (though certainly not the last) I've seen. I've been looking for someone who reviews films in this kind of detail and thought. I was nodding my head so much, about Napoleon as well as the other films you mentioned. I love your cross-references. Thanks for sharing what you do. I'm very impressed. Subscribed.
Thanks man, welcome to the channel.
When you said ‘character assassination’ i genuinely felt the same way watching blonde they purposely tried to ‘character assassinate’ Marilyn Monroe
I was thinking the same!
It's less about her and how shit the men around her were. They sacrificed her character to make men look bad in effort to try and make her look like a victim, because victims are put on a pedestal today. It's truly bizarre.
@@davidkymdell452 but she _was_ a victim in many ways. she literally died in near poverty after a lifetime of being used and treated like dirt. The issue with the movie was that they erased all her actual suffering and replaced it with easily debunkable ridiculous nonsense
@@Vexaraxyes, the real Marilyn was a victim, but she wasn’t ONLY a victim, which is how Blonde portrayed her. For women in particular I think it was revolting to watch, like misery corn. Certain parts of it were just gratuitously awful, like with JFK, when there is no evidence that he mistreated her (although he shouldnt have been cheating on his wife ofc)
@@scarletsletter4466 yeah even the author of the book it was based on said she made everything up, that she pretty much wanted to tell her own fictional story using Marilyn as a symbol rather than actually telling Marilyn’s story in any way.
Absolutely loved the part where Josephine raised her hand and said: Wakanda Forever!!
So stunning, so brave 😢
My favorite part was at the battle of Waterloo, when Guyladriel and Assoka raised their three swords and shouted WAKANDA FOREVA and led a charge with their Klingon volunteers, decimating the French infantry and shifting the fate of the battle. Not even Asterix and Obelix could resist them for too long...
@@marbellaotaiza801 yes that was absolutely beautiful, truly a masterpiece
@@marbellaotaiza801 .....What a battle!
The best part is when Barbie neutered Napoleon with her pink lightsaber!
@albogypsy2842 lol, I'm amazed they haven't come up with some shit like that in MuhForceIsFemale yet: a pink lightsaber that only cuts through male-identifying beings...
Compared to "Napoleon" and Ridley Scott's BS, "Pearl Harbor" is a masterpiece of historical accuracy...
...seriously, a multi-season series following Napoleon and France from the military academy through the French Revolution to Waterloo sounds amazing.
Season one: Childhood, military training and early service, showing signs of revolution and ending with the storming of the Bastille.
Season two: Early campaigns, victories and promotions, the proclamation of the First Republic, his republican support and ending with the National Convention setting up the Revolutionary Tribunal, kicking off the Reign of Terror.
Season three: His republican support, the siege of Toulon and his time strategizing while convalescent, ending with the end of the Reign of Terror and his house arrest.
Season four: His acquittal, his early romances, his refusal to join the war in Vendée, his topography sejour, him organizing the defense of Paris and ending with his marriage to Joséphine, knowing that he is about to leave for Italy.
Season five: First Italian campaign, political interventions, the Coup of 18 Fructidor, winning the War of the First Coalition and ending on his return to Paris in December of '97.
Season six: Egyptian expedition, naval losses to Nelson, defeating the Ottomans and ending with him receiving the news of the War of the Second Coalition and setting sail for France.
Season seven: Return to France, the coup d'état, the start of the French Consulate, Napoléon's employing his logistic skills to governing, him leading his army across the Alps, assassination plots and ending with the victory at the Battle of Marengo.
Season eight: Treaty of Amiens, First Consul for Life, colonial ventures, British declaration of war, legislative ventures, Code civil, more assassination plots and ending with his coronation to Emperor.
Season nine: Travels to Milan to be crowned King of Italy, War of the Third Coalition, ending with the Battle of Austerlitz and Austria's withdrawing from the coalition.
Season ten: Politicking and hubris, broken alliances, the Confederation of the Rhine, the start of the War of the Fourth Coalition, the battles of Jena and Auerstedt, the Berlin Decree and ending with the stalemate Battle of Eyleau.
Season eleven: Battle of Friedland, Treaties of Tilsit, the Peninsular War, appointing Joseph King of Spain, the flight of Joseph following the Battle of Bailén, and ending on the British victory at Vimiero.
Season twelve: Napoléon takes command in Spain, reconquers Madrid, chases British troops away, returns to France, ending on the start of the War of the Fifth Coalition, with Britain returning to Iberia and Austria invading Bavaria.
Season thirteen: War of the Fifth Coalition, defeating the British and Austrian forces, Treaty of Schönbrunn, divorce from Joséphine, annexation of Papal States, Holland and Westphalia, second marriage, birth of first child and ending on the decision to invade Russia.
Season fourteen: Russia is cold in winter, man, cudos for reading this far, scorched earth, the Battle and burning of Moscow, Napoléon fleeing on a sledge (christmas episode?), ending with Napoléon receiving the 90% casualty rate.
Season fifteen: War of the Sixth coalition, Battles of Dresden and Leipzig, the Frankfurt proposals, their withdrawal, the Battle of Paris, his abdication.
Season sixteen: Failed suicide, the Treaty of Fontainebleau, his exile to Elba, his governance of Elba, the death of Joséphine, escape from Elba.
Season seventeen: Landing in France, the 5th Regiment joining him, the march on Paris, the 100 days, the March into the Netherlands and ending on the Battle of Waterloo.
Season eighteen: Return to Paris, second abdication, retreat to Malmaison, Prussian troops advancement causing his flight to Rochefort, his surrender to Captain Frederick Maitland, his exile to Saint Helena, the poor living conditions, his insistence on Imperial formality, his declining health, his death and his first burial, and ending twenty years later with his 1840 state funeral in Paris.
29:08 Hey! at least Arnold UNDENIABLY was having a blast playing Dr Freeze, he was hamming it up every time he was on screen. I've never seen an actor play a terrible part with such childish joy and happiness.
I was in my edgelord phase when it released, but when I saw it ten years after, if Arnie was on the screen, I was enjoying myself.
I'm glad that I came back to it when I had. Moreso later on, after I found out that there was a Rifftrax for it.
@@Naedlus congratulations on coming back from the edge.
@@plumbthumbs9584 Took me too many years to find out it was more fun to dabble on the edge, than it was to make it your existence.
Arnold hadn't played a villain since 1984, he was loving it.
I think he still pays a small rental fee to keep the costume at his mansion.
Ridley Scott has turned into the Zack Snyder for pseudo-cinephiles over 45.
Omg, that is the most accurate description ever.
Zack Snyder has never made a good movie though, so that's at least one difference
I like how Napoleon was like “It’s Nappy time” and then Nappy’d all over the pyramids.
I can't wait to see Nick Hodges' reactions when/if he does a History Buffs episode on this - check out his takedowns of 1492: Conquest of Paradise, Kingdom of Heaven and Robin Hood first.
I wanted to see Napoleon to learn things like the Battle of the Pyramids was only named that because Napoleon saw the pyramids. THAT is the kind of "deconstruction" I like. Instead the French mortard the Pyramid of Giza as if a literal 10 year old wrote the script. "And then the Battle of Pyramids happens and Napoleon shoots the big one with a cannon!" But sir the entire scene is only a minute long. "Yes!"
Maybe, it’s because a a certain sect of people tried to blow up the pyramids in antiquity, as well as fringe groups that destroyed statues of the Buddha…? Hollyweird likes to ‘revision’ or ‘redress’ history, they are propagandists after all.
You'd need a big jump in cryogenics and seats made of air for people to watch a movie that covers the 18 yrs of Napoleon's life in the public sphere.
@@stephenmcdonagh2795 how about make his life story into several series?
@@stefthorman8548 They have done a series on Napoleon- think it was a Canadian production but it wasn't great- that one had too much Josephine in it as well.
"No wonder Ray Charles never watched it".... There are some exceptional moments in your review, well done!!
😂
Blindism is nothing to be scoffed at !!! @@Gyrfalcon312
Ray helped Write it. He died after. Uhh the stupidity of your fans is tiresome 😩
You must be fun at parties. It was excellent dark humour, if you take stick out of your back.
“I have a life, that’s how I knew your movie was historically heretical horse shite.”
If RS had anything resembling a meaningful life, he would understand the value of accurately portraying the most influential human in western history.
This was an amazing video. You really summed up the facts of the film, and I learned a lot from you. Thank you for uploading this. The definitive movie about Napoleon's final battle has been made with 1970's Waterloo. I've been wishing Austerlitz would get a simular treatment, however, with RSN put out like this, I'm guessing it would recieve simular treatment. Sad 😢
Just as it's fashionable in film to insert black characters into every possible human interaction, it is all but forbidden to explain how these people got where they are. There are black Hobbits in Middle Earth; there are black storm troopers in space; there are black courtiers in Regency England. To ask "How did they get there?" is considered insensitive. "Would you ask how white people got into George III's court?" Well, no, I wouldn't typically, but I *could*, and furthermore, I could explain it if I had to. You see, there is such a thing as "migration", and white people ended up in a lot of the places where they were because they moved there over a period of centuries. These areas didn't see a similar migration of black people then, so there were no black people there; that's all there is to it. The dizzying variety of ethnicities in one place we find in supposed historical films would require a degree of mobility that just didn't exist until modern times. Film makers intent upon constructing a fantasy past that tickles their current prejudices are incapable of thinking things through to that extent. They behave as though humans were plants or mushrooms, just spontaneously popping up here and there and sometimes producing inexplicable sports of different colours with no visible antecedents.
Race washing OUR history purely for the sake of pushing nefarious propaganda on all of us.
Star Wars example pretty trash ngl. I agree with the other examples though
@@RevanReborn3950BBYyou could argue that in star wars, at least in the more travelled systems and planets, everyone would have interbred (which happens very quickly anyway) to the point that there wouldn't be distinguishable races and they would all be some kind of beige-coloured human-alien mixture (assuming humans and aliens can interbreed of course).
@@RevanReborn3950BBYI agree. Star Wars is PURE fantasy and doesn't reflect politics or culture of the real world. Black Storm troopers makes MORE sense than a giant slug crime boss in that setting.
@@randomcharacter6501 *science fiction
I think the joke was that they should've titled the movie 'Josephine'. For a supposed Napoleon biopic, she was certainly way too front and center.
Yeah, the real title of this film should've been "Josephine: Her Napoleon Story."
I mean there was a Tragic Love Story in Napoleon's Life. His last word was Josephine and her last word was Napoleon. However it wasn't told right
Barbie 2: Josephine
"LIKE A BEAUTIFUL, BLOSSOMING FLOWER, PETALS UNFOLDING AND SPREADING LIKE SOME GREAT ANALOGY OF A BODY PART THAT HUMANITY CAN'T SEEM TO STOP OBSESSING OVER"
-Gerogia O'keef, c.1763
@@plumbthumbs9584 Even back then, women only told one kind of joke.
Excellent Despot. And thank you again for including Mr Reflection…always makes my day
"no wonder ray charles never watched it"
is the third joke you've now made that on it's own warrants a sub and makes a fan out of me
your timing and pacing is as good as your scripting and editing. i look forward to watching more
“You think you’re so great because you have boats!” is actually a line in the movie? That sounds like terrible dialogue to me, coming from a movie set in the 1800s.
I agree, I just think it could’ve been worded better.
It even worse then he said 'I found the crown of France in a gutter' in his coronation... and then place it on his head... he never said this in his coronation but in some letter, and obviously it was metaphorically. But here, it's portrayed as a real crown (from gutter!).
Apparently, Scott also makes Napoleon escape from Elba to meet again Josephine - who in reality died nine months earlier.
Nah in the movie by the time Napolean gets there, Josephine is already dead. It's just explained that communication never got to Napoleon about her death so he got upset.
As much as I love roasting Neapolitan Bones Apart, this is actually pathetic, roast him on his actual losses, on his actual behavior.
Make the short joke, then poke fun at customary units for being confusing and inconsistent. Mock his decline to a pudgy ball on the other side of the planet.
In the end he was one of the greats who changed the course of history, and should be respected as such.
your adoration towards a genocidal dictator is sickening
@@FrcNeru Genocide? whar?
@@FrcNeru One can be an absolute POS and still do great deeds.
Does anyone know which documentary the scenes with the greek subtitles are from? It looks interesting.
edit: nevermind, should have waited a bit longer to ask. It's Heroes and Villains, the Napoleon episode.
Arnold and Uma were the best thing in Batman and Robin. They both gave fun campy performances and ate every scene they were in. I mean honestly does anyone remember what Clooney and everyone else was doing?
Clooney was the worst choice of Batman ever, including Pattinson, of whom I've heard some praise actually (haven't seen it myself yet). I don't generally mind Clooney, I think he's a good actor, but he was totally off as Batman.
“Reflection of myself” will fucking NEVER get old.
He's pretty reflective.
Despot, found your channel thanks to a comment on a Nerdrotic video. Great analysis and you have inspired me to search out the BBC series Heroes and Villains and the 1970 movie Waterloo. Subscribed and looking forward to dipping into your back catalogue and future videos. Thankyou.
what other movies were shown in this video?
particularly the scenes during the 'historical inaccuracy' block were really gorgeous
Waterloo (1970)
Heroes and Villains: Napoleon
War and Peace (Bondarchuk)
You forgot to mention the the criminally under discussed biopic “Weird: The Al Yankovic Movie”. It is pure genius!
It’s DELIBERATELY inaccurate! Weird Al is 6’ tall and Daniel Radcliffe, who plays him in the biopic, is 5’5”. And that’s just the start of the wonderful absurdity.
Deliberately making an inaccurate biopic can help result in an amusing one.
@@markiangooley Not only are they very different heights and face structures, but Weird Al's real life quirk is that he's incredibly clean--he doesn't drink, smoke, do drugs, seldom even curses in his songs. Supposedly he also has a pretty healthy upbringing with his parents and he never had a big breakup with his band. So the fact that his biopic is this obviously-comedic of a downfall is perfect because he's one of the few artists that can
Of all the film tropes, the one I hate most is "great men throw tantrums and yell sometimes" instead of showing actual complexity and breadth of feeling.
Fun historical fact, Napoleon did not have a super noticeable cleft palate scar.
Don't listen to the haters. The part where the Duke of Wellington Spartan kicked Darth Vader into the Sarlacc pit took my breath away.
My favorite part was at the battle of Waterloo, when Guyladriel and Assoka raised their three swords and shouted WAKANDA FOREVA and led a charge with their Klingon volunteers, decimating the French infantry and shifting the fate of the battle. Not even Asterix and Obelix could resist them for too long...
That’s only because everyone knows for a fact that if Unicron made it on time to France, Darth Vader would never have fallen.
"THIS! IS! BRITAIN!"
@@HermitKing731 You think you're so great because you have galleys?
Knowing the real battle layout beforehand, Austerlitz was PAINFUL to watch. Literally a skirmish over a camp with like 500 guys...
Borodino was even worse, it looked like a battle from Empire Total War ...
One of the most infuriating things about this movie is that it's in conflict with itself on a metatextual level. The text of the movie is a clear indictment of Napoleon and of the very idea of "Great Men of History"; Napoleon is shown as petty, hapless, petulant, whiny, and all of his political or military genius is glossed over or set aside. The movie reminds you constantly of the losses, and the final scene of the movie is a list of numbers of casualties. The message is clear: "look how awful this guy was, he got all these men killed for his own ego! Also he was a delusional loser with no emotional control who was bad at sex!" But on a metatextual level, Napoleon, Josephine, and the high society of Europe are shown as the ONLY people who matter, because they're the entire focus of the movie and are the only people with any speaking lines! If Scott's hollow championing of the common soldiers whose lives were "thrown away" by Napoleon's ego was sincere, shouldn't have he included even a single scene where some common soldiers had speaking parts? He throws out this empathy bait at the end about all the soldiers who died under Napoleon, but without introducing those soldiers as people to care about in the movie, what connection does the audience have to some numbers on a screen? It would have been the simplest thing in the world to have a scene of some disillusioned fusiliers around a campfire in Russia talking about how Napoleon was losing it. It would have taken 3 minutes. Even Waterloo had some scenes of English soldiers talking among themselves and to Wellington to show they were real people. In Napoleon, I don't think I remember anyone with a social rank below the equivalent of a colonel speaking a line in the entire film. A paean for the common soldier indeed, bravo Scott.
My favorite part of "Steven Speilberg's Lincoln" (SSL) was when President Abraham Lincoln heard that General Lee was entering Gettysberg, Lincoln looked off into the middle distance and exclaimed.. "IT'S LINCOLN' TIME"
“'Napoleon' is Everything Wrong With Biopics” is Everything Right With Film Criticism
One correction, the person Wellington was talking to in the ballroom during the Waterloo movie wasn't his wife, just the hostess of the ball the Duchess of Richmond. I completely agree with your sentiments on both movies though, loved the review
Did anyone else who saw this movie think Phoenix seemed like he was bored/ sedated/ on opioids or something? It was such a weird performance. I blame the director most of all, but this was supposed to be a biopic of Napoleon & u have a middle aged actor mumbling, detached, whiny & sedated
The real problem with RSN is that Ridley didn't have the Barry Lyndon candle light camera lens that Kubrick borrowed from NASA. Nor did he have the directorial chops to approach the subject in any manner whatsoever. Doomed to failure.
You've managed to kill just about everyone else, but like a poor marksman, you keep missing the target. - James t kirk warth of khan
Your point about Dumas is something I thought about after Cleopatra was released. Why have we not seen, in current year, a new film about Shaka Zulu? Or Toussaint Louverture? Those were very important black figures. But we're not going to see their stories on film for a while because they were manly figures.
Not so much that they're men, but that they don't have widespread name recognition outside of history enthusiasts. Cleopatra was race swapped because she is one of the most famous female leaders prior to the 20th century, and basically the only one among those to have ruled in Africa.
This is the same reason why you will very rarely see a western film about an Asian pre-20th century character : people in the west on the whole just don't know them, so filmmakers have a hard time convincing producers.
The problem for black people is obviously that their history, though rich in its own right, is basically entirely unknown to almost everyone in the northern hemisphere, while unlike the asians they don't have the means to tell their own stories themselves.
There is also the queen of Sheba, she is even in the Bible. You have also the richest king ever, Mansa Musa king of Mali
I think the woke left just wants controversy so they can call you racist. They don't actually give a crap about actual black history.
@@MadManchou Sure, sure, there is that factor of having to work with relatively unknown characters. But what does it tell about these black filmmakers and intellectuals that they’re more willing to race swap rather than popularize their own stories? People and stories don’t get to be popular just by letting it works out on its own, but rather through concerted efforts to popularize them. The story of Cleopatra who seduced two of the most powerful in Rome just so she can protect her kingdom would have been buried in history had not Roman writers (writing propaganda for Augustus during and after his civil war with Mark Anthony) made such a big deal about it that it was able to live on for 1500 years for Shakespeare to write his play and another 500 years to our time.
But they can start today to popularize the past legends of black people. But no, apparently they’re so insecure of their own heritage that they saw no better use than race swapping other historical figures. Despite having strong backings in liberal Hollywood (in comparison to the very tiny Asian representation in Hollywood), even blacks cannot get more stories that represents their history?
@@MadManchou Let's be honest, Mark Anthony ruled, Cleopatra ruled through him. As soon as Anthony was done, so was she.
Can you please tell me what Napoleon production you used the clips of young Napoleon at the siege of Toulon and with his family! The one with Greek subtitles. I've seen a few renditions of Napoleon, but I would love to see that one! Also, top notch review - subscribed.
Edit: You do get to naming it - BBC's Heroes and Villains series, episode 1. Thanks!
You can find it on cosmosdocumentaries 5.
I _had_ to watch this one again! 😂 Bless you, Despot, for retouching this _RSN_ review.
-
Also, my God, those _15,000_ extras for those _Waterloo_ scenes!
Thanks for the rewatch!
Absolutely nuts. Try to organize something like this. Gotta love Dino De Laurentiis for going through with the production of this madness.
The poor horses though.
The Russians had not long finished their version of Tolstoy's epic "War and Peace", so Banachuk had access to all the costumes produced for that series, as well as the Red Army to wear them.
The only other time I can recall hearing that ALL the army portrayed on camera were real human beings, was the movie "Gettysburg", where a host of American Civil War re-enactors (approx 5,000) turned up to accurately portray the Confederate and Union armies, uniforms and their tactics.
Wait, they didn’t include the Battle of the Pacific Rim where he commanded a recalled Battleship from Pearl Harbor? That means they completely missed how he time traveled there from medieval times where he was searching for himself for a high school book report.
The movie should have been titled "Boats 'n' Hoes".
Great job G. One of your best thus far.
and watching it again
Me too!
Ditto 👍
Same
What’s different this time
Word frfr
Sir, you have my eternal admiration and respect for this material. All-though they are not trying to change history just for cheap throwaway thrills that look cool, the reason why Napoleon is such a mess is in my opinion the result of the interaction between a director that lost his edge a long time ago, and the fucked-up "burn the past" head space of Hollywood. Awesome french btw!
"head space" that a very apt way to put it that I haven't heard in a while. I agree though, wokeism with a general that's over the hill is a bad recipe for a history flick.
The blame should be put fully on Ridley Scott rather than some monolithic desire to destroy history in Hollywood. Just before watching Napoleon I saw Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon, which maintains its message while simultaneously respecting the historical material. I think its absolutely doable to make a film that is critical of Napoleon without having to make shit up, but Ridley Scott was never interested in making a movie about the actual Napoleon.
@@firebird4491 why are you defending Hollywood of all things?
@@marbellaotaiza801 I'm just saying it's misleading to think Hollywood is some top-down organization with an agenda. Hollywood is just a term that represents the American film industry. Not everyone in Hollywood has the same ideas about what a historical movie should be and how to make it. I used Scorsese's recent historical film as an example of a director with a different vision from Ridley Scott. I could also bring up Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer. Instead of blaming the entire American film industry for 'Napoleon', blame Ridley Scott. Disney is also fair game since filmmakers producing films for Disney need to take orders from their executives if they want to keep their job.
@@firebird4491 Hollywood used to be a term to represent the American film industry. Now it's a term to represent the five or four corporations that own all the studios that remain. The corporations happen to be owned in turn by black rock or vanguard or both.
Most of the people that work there comes from the same schools and have similar values or lack thereof.
It's all very incestuous if you think of it so yeah, even if there's not an organization called "Hollywood" with a president and a top-down hierarchy, maybe you can see how the can still be an agenda and how it can be implemented.
On the other hand, I'm not defending RS, but I still haven't seen anyone blaming David Scarpa. You can be a genius director, but your movie is not gonna be much better than the script you got, and Scarpa hasn't written anything good since The Last Castle that I know of...
I truly hope that the next generation of creators (if not the current one) heeds the constructive criticism that you are giving on biopics and that Critical Drinker, Nerdrotic, Little Platoon, and others offer on a variety of cinematic topics. It is painfully ironic that the decline in movies has created a Golden Age of film criticism; I constantly see comments wishing that films were even half as entertaining as the reviews. It is darkest before the dawn, and I hope that the death of so many franchises and genres will lead to a rebirth in cinema as well as culture in general.
think we watched the same torrent/ stream of this bc i remember hearing people laugh at that scene too of "you think youre so cool cause you have boats"
Ridley Scott's hissy response to criticism of his film's historical accuracy - "Were you there?" - did the most harm to my respect level for him. That's an argument so weak that you usually only hear it from Young Earth Creationists, desperate to cling to a bogus fiction. We don't need to have been there to know that your version flies in the face of the facts. And you weren't there either, you ponce.
It's such a pathetic argument that I didn't even consider it worth responding to in this video.
"I had Napoleon destroy the pyramids to show that he conquered Egypt" - Ridley Scott. THEN SAY YOU"RE MAKING A FANTASY AND NOT A HISTORICAL BIOPIC
More entertaining than Hollywood. Bravo. Also, I love the Duke of Wellington's quote you mentioned at the end. Talk about a humble-brag.
not only incredible that actual thousands of man marching, the shot when they march towards you literally makes you shake, no cgi can create that, since you can sense the unreality of that, but the real man marching with bayonets towards you, not running, marching with intent, the intent of removing anything in their way from existence.
I don't understand why RS didn't do what Kubrick did in "Barry Lyndon" and show both a young and aging Napoleon.
Because Kubrick had some respect for his audience, RS might have at some point, but alas, not anymore.
Because he banked on the Joaquin Phoenix name and face on the poster carrying the movie.
Because the movie is just slander. He doesn't care about that.
1:12:00 when the Despot shows the clip of all those real people comprising the army, you can hear the immensity in their footsteps pounding as they walked. It was super cool! 🤩
That's something I noticed watching it, modern CGI feels weightless and bland; there's no comparison.
This is a brilliant review, both enlightening insightful and entertaining. I would rather watch this thatn the original. Great work. I am just surprised that Ridley did not include environmental concerns or did he?
@DespotofAntrim Another Outstanding dissection, sir! Suggestion? Perhaps you'd consider featuring examples of Good Historical fiction or documentaries? Maybe even the rare masterfully done works of fiction? Contemporary films/media, of course!
It's a good suggestion but I know such a video wouldn't do well, I would like to do a 'best of 2023' though.
So it’s pretty much “Blonde” (which was an active character assassination attempt of Marilyn Monroe - even the author of the book admitted none of it was based on fact but the film presented itself as a biopic!)
When Napoleon shouted: "You think you're so great because you have boats?!!" the song boats and h's from the movie step brothers started playing in my mind for some reason.
Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo
When I think of this movie, I think of poo...
Boats and Hoe's
Such a joy to watch this 3 in 1 review! Accurate historical facts, serious movie review and proficient French pronunciation (oh, the joy of finally listening to someone not mumbling and mangling any other language that is not English).
ahah, the number of arguments per minute is incredible, i'm just at 8min only and I feel like listening to the episod for a hour at least. Good work, keep going ! And cheers, from France.
I have not watched "Ridley Scott's Napoleon"! And after watching many reviewers take on the film, I get the sense that it is as accurate as Netflix Cleopatra!
So I have no regrets not having watched this!
We've known that Ridley Scott is a fool at least since Prometheus.
Robin Hood was 2 years earlier, and is an abomination.
Well done, sir. By the way, I highly recommend the mini-series "La Révolution Française", made in 1989. There are many like Klaus Maria Brandauer as Danton and Andrzej Seweryn as Robespierre. Sir Christopher Lee also has a short role in it as the executioner at the guillotine.
What I want to know, as a photographer (actual, not digital finger-painting), is this:
Why is it that the indoor scenes are well-lit and brightly colorful, while the outdoor scenes look like they were shot on rolls of Anscochrome that expired in April 1966 that a guy found in his grandfather's attic after the funeral and sold on ebay cos hipsters love to shoot that stuff in plastic toy cameras? Of course, I know that the only forms of indoor lighting were candles, fireplaces, and whatever came through windows, and fire provides very warm, orange-amber light, whereas outdoor light is white (sunny, mid-day) or blue-tinted (overcast). But even an overcast day is six to eight stops brighter than a candlelit interior. So even accounting for the difference in color temperatures, why do interiors appear to be six stops brighter than the outdoors, which are always overcast, at the smallest difference in brightness to interiors? This is the opposite of both reality and what is rendered on all visual media. I did better than this when I was nine. Therefore, considering that the people involved in the production are not children borrowing their granddads' cameras and working in basements through nothing more than their grandparents' largesse, but are, in fact, adults with access to the most advanced equipment in the world, virtually infinite resources, and the backing of a multi-billion-dollar megacorporation, I can reach no other conclusion than that this was intentional. But I'm buggered if I know why.
I don't know why they keep hiring Joaquin Phoenix for roles in which he is to play royalty. He is inaccurate, his enunciation is poor, and his general posture is one of a slob. He is the last guy I would pick to represent anyone who had their **** together. He makes a great Joker but not an emperor, which by the way he has now played twice, thanks to Scott.
In the Gladiator it worked considering what kind of character he played.
I'd hire him to play freaks and social jetsam, that's what he shines at.
I love that his editor is using screenshots from Epic History TV, another great UA-cam channel with a near flawless series on Napoleon.
The moment I saw Joaquin in trailer, I said: No way, he is too old to play Napoleon.
Critical Drinker, Disparu and the Despot my guides to entertainment and i think you're destined to be just as popular. It is evident that you take your time in research and in developing your scripts. I always look forward to your content!
The triple D of movie commentary
I first saw Disparu not too long ago. He was dismantling that Robbin da Hood anal boil. I couldn't stop laughing.
I’ve gotten more enjoyment out of their collective content,
than anything that Hollyweird Babylon has excreted out in decades.
I would also recommend youtubers "Rick Worley", "Nerdonymous", "Filmento" and "Krimsonrogue".
Drinker is a woke shill.
"Rear guard flanking maneuvers" has to be one of the great wordsmithing feats of 2023.
Though "the greatest hits format is the socialism of biopics..." could give it a run for it's money...
@@marbellaotaiza801dont get it. Socialism is likely the future
@@the_Googie of what?
Of social cancer.of whole generation raised on Twitter and tiktok. People overloaded with dopamine and entitlement, with intelligence WAY BELOW average and due to that, very subject to manipulation and propaganda. They will submit their freedom and sovereignty over freebies, because they never honestly worked even one day in their whole lifetime. People who for their whole lifetime got participation trophies for existing....
@@the_Googie So it will fail again, and?