Napoleon (2023)
Director: Ridley Scott
Screenwriter: David Scarpa
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Vanessa Kirby, Tahar Rahim, Rupert Everett, Paul Rhys

Almost a quarter of a century after his swords and sandals epic Gladiator became a critically acclaimed cultural phenomenon and Oscars Best Picture winner, Ridley Scott re-teams with one of its stars – one of this generation’s leading actors and a multi-time Academy Award nominee, Joaquin Phoenix – to revisit another of history’s most written about leaders, Napoleon Bonaparte of France. With more historically accurate locations and just as many period-appropriate costumes as in his turn of the century fable, this life and times of France’s great-then-disgraced general should be a lot more affecting than it actually is. This bullet point journey through Bonaparte’s rise and fall from power doesn’t make powerful comment on the corruption of man, nor does it evaluate the emperor’s influence on war or peace, on Europe or France or the United Kingdom or Russia. In fact, it doesn’t say much at all…

It would be difficult to chronicle Napoleon’s story and fail to capture the imagination in one way or another. This is one of history’s most important figures, an emblem of power and greed. His various roles in post-revolution France took him across continents, saw him as the figurehead of coups, and brought about the deaths of more than one million people. His was a life filled with so many historically significant events, moments, and decisions, that anyone with so much as an Encyclopaedia Britannica could recount his story with at least some drama, shock and awe. The issue with this $200million film is that the script does little more than precisely that, recounting the significant moments of his leadership as if listing them out of a book, with a cheap and at times barely legible love angle tacked on to evoke empathy and provide commentary on the events that come fast and often with little context.

Joaquin Phoenix tries his best. He dominates every scene, embodying a character he clearly sees as more of a creature than a man. Under his spell, Napoleon Bonaparte is worthy of attention, a character whom we are desperate to investigate, to interrogate. But the film doesn’t allow for that. As we depart the beheading of Marie Antoinette in revolution-era France to first meet our subject, Phoenix is not unlike a lion with his jaw clenched, his eyes glazed, his uniform as extravagant and symbolic as a mane. There is so much promise held within this introduction – a potentially world-shifting performance, some spectacular wardrobe work, effective framing and blocking – and instead it sadly becomes emblematic of a film that leaves so much of its potential unfulfilled.

The bullet point journey through Napoleon’s conquests, political manoeuvres, and exiles, requires an emotional core for any potential audience to attach to, and it finds that in the would-be emperor’s marriage to his beloved Josephine. Vanessa Kirby embodies the infamous leader’s muse as if a witch who has cast a spell, and the Oscar-nominated performer’s turn is at times just as beguiling as Phoenix’s. Together, they never hit the highs of some of their other on-screen relationships (Phoenix in Her, Kirby in Pieces of a Woman), nor is their relationship as moving as that presented by Mel Gibson and Catherine McCormack in Braveheart, or as lustful as that presented by Omar Sharif and Julie Christie in Doctor Zhivago. There isn’t even a sense of dangerous plotting as underlined by the incestuous relationship hinted at between Phoenix and Connie Nielsen in Gladiator, which at least provoked a reaction. In Napoleon, Phoenix and Kirby are believably brought together, but they are far from enchanted by one another, and as time passes and events occur, you expect that to become part of the commentary on Napoleon’s lack of humanity, but it doesn’t. Napoleon instead frames this relationship as the beating heart of its subject, as the primary motivating factor, the biggest achievement, the biggest regret. And the film only takes brief moments to dissect this, or even present a valid argument as to how the relationship motivated the man to achieve otherworldly horrors. Theirs is a story that runs parallel to the story of Napoleon’s “achievements”, evolving from time to time but largely suffering from the same “this happens and then this happens and then this happens” that plagues the rest of the tale.

Beyond the limitations of David Scarpa’s screenplay, which was no doubt limited in its potential by the vast period of time it sought to cover (a period of more than 25 years), and the effects this has on Claire Simpson’s editing and pacing of the film, Napoleon does achieve a lot cinematically. First and foremost, the costume work is spectacular. David Crossman and Janty Yates’ work in costuming is nothing short of stellar, and a glimpse at the level of quality many expected a modern Ridley Scott historical epic to achieve. Everyone looks unique and period-appropriate, but the smaller details on the limited selection of main characters are worthy of the biggest screen possible and plenty of critical acclaim. Similarly, the production design by Arthur Max is a significant factor in bringing cinematic qualities to scenes that are otherwise inconsequential or at least far from unmissable. The party and governmental scenes are where the latter shines the brightest, some sequences decked out and presented as if the period’s great paintings.

Ridley Scott must be commended for his role in bringing this to life, too. Some shots are of the highest cinematic calibre, a master clearly touching on the greatness that has been foundational to his visually impressive career to date. His party scenes are filled with life, there are unique physical qualities to many of the major historical figures at play in the story, and he seems intent on ensuring that not a single battle is presented in as bland a fashion as many other director’s have long since settled. His work with cinematographer Dariusz Wolski in the capturing of cold, of fog, of early morning winter sunrises, imbues the piece with a sense of reality and ensures that nobody can be bored by the achievements held within each frame. Some sequences, such as the one in which Napoleon takes Moscow, are worthy even of a highlight reel that includes The Duellists, Alien, Blade Runner, Thelma & Louise and Gladiator.

As has often been the case in more recent Scott movies, there are also shots, scenes and sometimes even entire sequences that seem absent of his once unique and form-topping touch. Early on, it is easy to be removed from the reality of the time period courtesy of poor CGI, such as that showing Joaquin Phoenix riding a horse on a beach or large crowds resembling AI renditions more than actual people. The picture is also so awash with greys that it seems more like a mid-2000s early digital filmmaking release than even Scott’s own from that era. Some night time shots are utterly spectacular, and seem to be of the same school as those celebrated in Jordan Peele’s Nope, but there are vast periods in which everything looks washed out, and it is almost certain that minutes of this film will be barely legible (too dark) to anyone who eventually watches it at home.

Ridley Scott has spoken a lot in the press tour for Napoleon about how his movies do not need to be historically accurate. When a film seeks to explore something thematically, personally, or ideologically, then Scott is most certainly correct. Film is art, and art seeks truth rather than fact. Gladiator worked because of this perspective, because of how it abandoned fact in search of the truth held within the myth. But Napoleon doesn’t do that. It presents moment after moment from the history books, often inaccurately out of negligence as opposed to deeper purpose. There is no doubt that a lot of care and artistry can be seen on screen in Napoleon, but that negligence will be the story of this film: a movie that could have been great, that could have meant something, that could have simply been accurate, and ended up being none of those things. Like Napoleon himself, Napoleon thinks itself as greater than it is. It isn’t insulting like Ridley Scott’s idea of Napoleon firing canons into the Great Pyramid of Giza was to historians the world over, but it does offer only glimmers at its full might. Some individual pieces are greater than the whole in this instance, and what a shame that is. This should have been special.

Score: 15/24

Recommended for you: Ridley Scott Films Ranked

Edinburgh International Film Festival, one of the world’s oldest and most respected, was held for perhaps the final time when its parent company went into administration. Arts funding in the UK, especially outside London, continues to be cut.

Independent films are tougher than ever to get made, and even more difficult to get big-screen exhibition for with cinemas clamouring for big-budget, big audience extravaganzas that will help mitigate spiralling running costs. The majority of smaller films that make it out into the world will more than likely be first seen on one of the streamers.

Every major studio now has their own dedicated streaming service with a catalogue of exclusive, gated-off content, and in the wake of HBO Max’s culling of anything not guaranteed to bring them ever-increasing profit in the future, there’s no guarantee that easily-accessible digital libraries of classic films and TV shows will be here to stay.

It has also been proof positive (as if it was needed) that in an ever-increasingly shitty world filled with corruption, deprivation and discrimination, what most cinema-goers truly crave is pure escapism from their daily lives for as long as possible. Top Gun: Maverick had a more monumental impact than could ever be predicted and Jurassic World Dominion chased a similar nostalgia-hungry audience. The Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC Extended Universe are still going, but do not quite appear to be the unstoppable box office juggernauts they once were, with even a new Batman movie not cracking a billion dollars, though you’d be a fool to bet against James Cameron and any of his many Avatar sequels not making a massive splash.

On that somewhat uncertain note, here are my 10 Best Films Released in the UK in 2022 – every single one I found far more compelling and memorable than caped heroes, Na’vi and thirty-plus year-old franchise revivals.

Follow me @SSPThinksFilm on Twitter.

10. RRR

RRR wasn’t released in 2022 so much as it was unleashed. Nothing else came even close to the sheer bombastic, bonkers spectacle in this Teglu blockbuster, the title of which is an abbreviation for the director SS Rajamouli and his two stars, in case you were wondering.

A fictional story inspired by the lives of two real Indian revolutionaries, we follow tribesman Bheem (NT Rama Rao Jr) and police officer Raju (Ram Charan) who form an unlikely forever friendship and work together to fight against the colonial forces of the British Raj in the 1920s.

RRR would make a great introductory movie for any fan of Western blockbusters and/or East Asian martial arts movies who wants to get into Indian cinema. The action is out of this world in scale, conception and sheer creativity, and it mercilessly skewers the monstrous acts of the British Empire by getting two singing, dancing action heroes to kick their asses in a huge variety of ways.

9. Decision to Leave

Park Chan-Wook’s sensual detective thriller plays with well-worn genre tropes with an abundance of style and slyly incorporates modern technology into its twisty investigation storyline.

An insomniac detective in Busan (Park Hae-il) becomes obsessed with a Chinese suspect (Tang Wei) who is being investigated for the suspicious death of her husband who was found at the foot of a mountain, but even after the case is seemingly closed and she is found innocent, their paths continue to cross suspiciously regularly.

Perhaps one of Park’s least twisted films to date on a pure visual level (you inevitably always end up comparing any new release to his Vengeance trilogy on the “how f-ed up is this?” scale), but he’s still fascinated by being able to explore murky moral contradictions and psychological complexity in his fascinating lead pairing, both electrifyingly portrayed by Park and Wei.

In 2022, our team and a number of established contributors have reviewed more than 110 films in total, covering everything from the most lucrative blockbusters to the year’s best horrors and biggest awards bait, rating more than a dozen of them as our equivalent of five stars. At The Film Magazine we score each and every movie out of 24, as film was originally projected at 24 frames per second; the idea is for our scores to represent how many frames, on average, are worth viewing. Our equivalent of five stars is therefore 21 out of 24 and above, and we list each of these in our Hall of Fame. The very best of those Hall of Fame films, rated 22 out of 24 and above, have made this list of the 10 Highest-Scoring Films 2022.

If you’re interested in revisiting which films were most highly thought of in previous years, please take a look at our lists from 2021 and 2020. In this year’s edition, we’ll be presenting each film in order of score and then organising them in alphabetical order.

Follow @thefilmagazine on Twitter.

1. Bodies Bodies Bodies – 22/24

“If you’re looking to poke fun at the kids or experience some top-notch ironic Twitter discourse, then this is a film that won’t disappoint. Although its horror elements do err on the side of caution, the comedy will leave you satisfied if the jump scares and blood-covered cast do not.” – Morgan Barr

Bodies Bodies Bodies Review

2. Everything Everywhere All at Once – 22/24

“Everything Everywhere All at Once cements Daniels as one of the filmmaking partnerships to watch, the directorial duo equally imaginative, technically accomplished and emotionally dialled in to what makes us humans tick.” – Sam Sewell-Peterson

Everything Everywhere All at Once Review

Fans of comedy might recognize Peele from Mad TV, where he was a cast member until his departure in 2008. Peele went on to create the Comedy Central sketch comedy series ‘Key and Peele’, which is revered as one of the most iconic shows on the network to date. Through small acting and writing gigs, Peele made his name in the comedy world and became a Hollywood staple.

His foray into dramatic directorial work excited and baffled many of his fans. With his firmly cemented background in comedy, many wondered if he had the vision to pursue more serious ventures. In a matter of years, Peele proved naysayers wrong, writing and directing some of the most beloved horror films of the past decade. Though Peele certainly has a strong filmography, some of his films hold up better than others. In this edition of Ranked, we here at The Film Magazine have compared and contrasted each of Peele’s three feature directorial releases and ranked them from good to great (because all of these films are truly worth a watch). These are: the Jordan Peele Movies Ranked.

Follow @thefilmagazine on Twitter.

3. Us (2019)

Us Review

Us ranking last is truly a testament to Peele’s filmmaking abilities.

The film follows Adelaide (Lupita Nyong’o) and her family as they travel to her hometown of Santa Cruz. The idyllic beach town soon reveals itself to be a land of horrors as an array of disturbing coincidences remind Adelaide of a traumatic childhood incident. Soon, Adelaide must confront her past when four strangers identical to the family appear on their doorstep with malicious intentions.

Though Us is not as symbolically tight as Jordan Peele’s other work, it is arguably the most fun of Peele’s filmography. The first 30 minutes are a nonstop barrage of terrifying jump scares that will leave you shaking in your seat. Peele expertly weaves humor into this otherwise thrilling journey. Lupita Nyong’o gives the performance of her career, jumping from the soft-spoken mother of two to the tortured villain from line to line.

What holds Us back from the top spot is its muddled symbolism. The film crescendos into a satisfyingly poignant ending, but there are points along the way that don’t totally come to fruition. Peele’s sophomore film is incredibly ambitious and, for the most part, it succeeds. However, there are several moments that feel undeveloped or unexplained. Certainly, if you hunt for inconsistencies you will find them. Nevertheless, Us demonstrates an impressive directorial vision and is a great blockbuster watch.

Nope (2022) Review
Director: Jordan Peele
Screenwriter: Jordan Peele
Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Steven Yeun, Brandon Perea, Michael Wincott, Wren Schmidt, Kieth David, Terry Notary, Jacob Kim 

Jordan Peele’s latest genre-smashing film Nope has arrived hotly anticipated and under an impenetrable cloud of secrecy. For almost a year, all we had to go on was a poster depicting an ominous nimbus with the one-word title, then several teasers that mostly just showed people looking up into the sky. You’d be well-served to go into this one without watching any of the film’s more recent marketing, but suffice to say this particular sci-fi suspense thriller will not be going quite the way you think it might.

Following the sudden death of their father, Hollywood horse training siblings OJ and Emerald Haywood (Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer) begin experiencing strange happenings at their California ranch that point towards extraterrestrial visitors. With the help of over-enthusiastic tech support guy Angel (Brandon Perea) and eccentric cinematographer Antlers Holst (Michael Wincott), the Haywoods set out on a mission to capture incontrovertible evidence that we are not alone in the universe.

We are told early on that the first moving image was of a black man riding a horse. We know that Eadweard Muybridge filmed it, but we don’t know the name of the first movie star/stuntman in this revolutionary 2 seconds of film. Peele capitalises on this historical erasure by making Otis Haywood (Kieth David) and his children the direct descendants of this man – they have working with horses, and on movies, in their blood. 

The film explores two seemingly separate thematic paths that nevertheless intersect in some fascinating ways: 1. The compulsive human need to gawp at spectacle; 2. How most animals’ behaviour becomes more erratic and dangerous as soon as a human makes direct eye contact with it.

We open with an incident, seemingly unrelated to the rest of the UFO-chasing narrative, in which a chimp viciously attacks its co-stars on a hit 90s sitcom. Later, Jupe (Jacob Kim), the child actor who miraculously escaped unscathed, has grown up to be a successful showman (now played by Steven Yeun) who uses his traumatic experience to fuel his desire to deliver a one-of-a-kind live experience to a shamelessly entertainment-craving audience. Jupe’s Western-themed amusement park is of course just a stone’s throw from the Haywood ranch, and before long everyone’s lives will be inextricably tied together.

The slow-build tension of Nope‘s first half certainly has the vibe of a Close Encounters or a Signs in so much as you can’t quite figure out how much is real or in the heads of some of these troubled characters. You’re given plenty of time to get to know each of the protagonists and what they want out of life, which always helps when the threat level ramps up, and Kaluuya and Palmer’s endearing and completely believable family squabbles, plus Wincott’s slightly mad, gravelly drawl of his pretentious dialogue, are the highlights of this small but memorable ensemble. 

It becomes a lot more like Jaws or other giant animal movies in its second half, except that it trades the open ocean for the rolling California hills and a tell-tale fin in the water for an uncannily still cloud in a clear blue sky as the ragtag group try to work out exactly what is going on and how, or if, it can be stopped.

There are plenty of mythological and religious references to be found throughout Peele’s screenplay and the kinds of visuals he most heavily relies upon, from the biblical quote that comes pre-titles (“I will cast abominable filth upon you, make you vile and make you a spectacle.”) to the idea from Greek myths of a “monster” whose terrible power is linked to being looked at. Of course the camera is something modern humans rely on and believe often more than their own eyes, so it becomes the ultimate symbol of our gullibility.  

There have been an encouraging amount of thoughtful, thematically rich sci-fi films over the last decade, from Andrew Patterson’s The Vast of Night to Benson and Moorhead’s duology Resolution and The Endless. The former was all about the visceral human reaction to sound and storytelling, and the latter, very much like Nope, is about the power of visual stimuli and the need for answers that remain frustratingly elusive. None of those aforementioned indie alien movies had anything like the scale, scope or the $68 million budget of Peele’s film, but he certainly doesn’t waste it.

Nope showcases the most interesting looking alien since Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival. It very much appears to be a retro flying saucer type when it first appears, but from the right angle looks an awful lot like an iconic object from another genre too, and as it reveals more of its true form it only gets weirder, and strangely, more believable as a real organism. The IMAX camera of Hoyte van Hoytema (Interstellar; Spectre) makes the whole thing feel appropriately grand and sweeping, and the action scenes that make an asset of the seemingly endless landscape are thrilling in an old-fashioned kind of way like you’d find in the Western films the Haywoods built their business around. 

Nope might not punch you in the stomach like Get Out or slap you in the face like Us, but it creeps up on you and has a power all its own. It’s certainly a grower, and promises to reveal much more on each rewatch. Because he started out the gate with two such attention-grabbing horror films on the bounce, Jordan Peele has most often been compared to frequent horror directors like John Carpenter and Wes Craven, but Nope proves his versatility and his talent for getting character right first and foremost, before developing some original ideas and then providing the spectacle we all crave to cap it all off. With Nope, Peele is well on his way to being the next Steven Spielberg. 

Score: 22/24

While challenges remain ongoing for the film industry and so much has yet to be written regarding the future of exhibition amidst our global efforts against the pandemic, the slate of movies due for release in 2022 seems just as full and exciting as the last few months of 2021. Amongst the most hotly anticipated releases sit blockbuster heavyweights from Marvel and DC, delayed should-be summer hits, some brand new tear-jerking animated films from the world’s most successful studios, a spate of direct-to-streaming offerings, and a handful of films that could take the festival and awards circuits by storm.

In this, The Film Magazine’s 2022 Big Movie Preview, we are looking at the most exciting films due for release in 2022, categorising each by defining factors such as their genres and budgets. Amongst the films listed are those we have trailers for and know lots about, as well as those with little more than a director and some actors attached.

Follow @thefilmagazine on Twitter.

Superhero Specials

The impact of superhero cinema on the big studios’ release slates is incomparable, its importance to the exhibition industry unrivalled, its cultural imprint so significant that the realm of fantasy-action hybrids is now going by its own genred term: superhero films (or comic book movies).

In 2022, DC are following up the audience successes of Zack Snyder’s Justice League and The Suicide Squad with more DCEU releases and another entry into their darker timeline of more adult-focused superhero stories, while Marvel are doubling down on the multiverse idea that proved popular in No Way Home and look set to reimagine some of their franchise stalwarts. Here are the superhero movies to be expectant of in 2022:

The Batman (rel. 4 March 2022) – From the director of Let Me In and the last two Planet of the Apes films (Dawn and Rise) comes a dark reimagining of Batman trying to unravel the truth behind Riddler’s games. With a cast featuring Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano, Colin Farrell, Andy Serkis, Jeffrey Wright, Barry Keoghan, Peter Sarsgaard and John Turturro, this could be an early-year mega-hit not too dissimilar to Deadpool or the late-year DC billion-dollar movie Joker.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (rel. 6 May 2022) – The long-awaited sequel to Marvel’s Benedict Cumberbatch-led superhero offering Doctor Strange sees the multiverse introduced in the latest Spider-Man movie presented through the lens of original Spider-Man director and cult hero Sam Raimi. With a powerful premise of Strange versus Strange teased in the trailer, it seems that one of Marvel’s Phase 4 leaders could be another MCU box office smash.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – Part One (rel. 7 October 2022) – The original Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was a genre-defining hit from Sony Pictures Animation and was probably one of the greatest superhero films ever made. This October, we get its sequel, and this time follow central hero Miles Morales across different universes in his own multiverse of madness, the same quality of animation and same creative team steering the ship.

Some more to add to your watchlists (use Letterboxd, we do: /thefilmagazine):

+ Morbius (rel. 28 January 2022) – Jared Leto stars in the Spider-Man universe film from the director of Life and Child 44.

+ Thor: Love and Thunder (rel. 8 July 2022) – Taika Waititi returns to the director’s chair following Thor: Ragnarok in this upcoming MCU event movie starring the usual suspects and a returning Natalie Portman.

+ Black Adam (rel. 29 July 2022) – Dwayne Johnson stars in this DCEU anti-hero tale from Orphan and Non-Stop director Jaume Collet-Serra.

+ The Flash (rel. 4 November 2022) – It director Andy Muschietti brings Ezra Miller’s Snyderverse version of The Flash to life in another of the year’s multiverse-hopping superhero entries, with an appearance by Michael Keaton as Batman likely to be a late-year talking point.

+ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (rel. 11 November 2022) – Marvel look set to redirect their Black Panther franchise within a franchise without lead Chadwick Boseman.

+ Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom (rel. 16 December 2022) – James Wan follows up his billion dollar hit Aquaman with its sequel starring Jason Momoa, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Nicole Kidman and a slew of big names.

Anticipated Awards Contenders

Each and every year, the festival circuit propels some noteworthy releases towards awards season, and while it is often difficult to predict which films will be hits and which won’t, we’ve looked at some of the upcoming films from respected and award-winning filmmakers to bring to you these must-adds to your watchlists.

Untitled Elvis Presley Project (rel. 3 June 2022) – Baz Luhrmann returns to the silver screen with a summertime Elvis Presley film that is set to star Austin Butler as The King of Rock and Roll and Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker. While little is known about the film at this time, including its title, anticipation is high for a new film from the director of Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge!.

Babylon (rel. 25 December 2022) – Whiplash and La La Land director Damien Chazelle takes on the golden era of Hollywood in this period drama with an all-star cast. Margot Robbie will play Clara Bow, one of the few silent era actors to successfully transition into the talkies, and she will be supported by a cast including Brad Pitt, Tobey Maguire, Olivia Wilde, Kathryn Waterston, Samara Weaving, Flea and more.

Blonde (rel. 2022) – New Zealand-born director Andrew Dominik offers his first feature drama for a decade with Blonde, a look at the inner workings of the life of legendary Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe. With the director’s previous films Killing Them Softly and The Assassination of Jesse James being such critical hits, and the cast boasting Ana De Armas in the lead role, this looks set to be a certain awards contender in at least one of the major categories at the 2023 Oscars.

Some more to add to your watchlists (use Letterboxd, we do: /thefilmagazine):

+ Thirteen Lives (rel. 15 April 2022) – Viggo Mortensen and Colin Farrell star in Ron Howard’s dramatisation of the harrowing real-life events that occurred in Thailand in 2018 when a group of children were trapped in a cave.

+ Untitled David O. Russell Project (rel. 4 November 2022) – American Hustle and Silver Linings Playbook director David O. Russell reunites with Christian Bale and Robert De Niro. Amongst the supporting cast are Anya Taylor-Joy, Mike Myers, Margot Robbie, John David Washington, Rami Malek, Zoe Saldana and Taylor Swift.

+ Untitled Bee Gees Biopic (rel. 4 November 2022) – Kenneth Branagh is following up his critical success Belfast with a biopic of famed Australian music group the Bee Gees, though details (including cast) are currently being kept under wraps.

+ I Wanna Dance with Somebody (rel. 23 December 2022) – Harriett director Kasi Lemmons aims to chronicle the life of late pop megastar Whitney Houston (Naomi Ackie) set for release in the height of awards season.

Click to the next page for even more.