[SPOILERS BELOW]
- (P) Positives
- (N) Negatives
- (?) Other points/Neither positive or negative
- (P) The thousands of extras present that make up the vast armies we see are arguably the film's greatest asset. Due to the sheer size, the audience gets a sense of just how large-scale these battles were.
- (P) This is conveyed excellently through the cinematography; examples include: grand sweeping bird's eye shots; close up "ride-along shots" where we follow hundreds of soldiers on horseback; huge crowds rejoicing at the return of Napoleon; the choreography of dancers in the ballroom scene; also, there are many subtle shots such as Napoleon in the opening scene appearing small in the background in front of his marshals in the foreground, symbolizing how he is fighting a losing battle and the fact that his marshals are demanding him to abdicate; or the scene in which Napoleon's signal to his men to lower their guns transitions seamlessly into a close-up shot of his hands behind his back; or the scene in which Napoleon is sitting in the bath --> the framing of the shot is positioned in such a way where Napoleon is surrounded by the wealth of France, with its sublime architecture and such --> Napoleon looks around at the splendour around him, knowing how much rests on his continued victory against the British.
- (P) Colour and lighting are also used effectively with a great deal of variety; e.g. the warm, soft yellow glow of the ballroom scene; the harsh blue of the evening sky; the intense burgundy-red in the aftermath of the Battle of Waterloo etc.
- (P) Great set design with many notable locations such as the French regal halls of the palace, the ballroom, and the battlefield itself slowing turning from that of a lush green and gold to upturned, blackened soil and blood.
- (P) The acting was solid, with Rod Steiger (Napoleon) and Christopher Plummer (Wellington) being the standout performances, with the film demonstrating how alike both famous military men were in their thinking as well as their mutual respect for each other's military ability; arguably, Steiger's performance was "too overly emotional", but I think he brought a surprisingly empathetic and compelling center to Napoleon's character.
- (N) One of the film's poorest qualities is it's horrendously poor
pacing i.e. it takes about 80 minutes into the 130 minute runtime to
actually begin the Battle of Waterloo; I understand that we need a strong buildup in order for the Battle to have any weight to it --> this is especially true for the Battle of Waterloo, considering it's tremendously important place in history - however, I also think that taking over half of the runtime to get to the event your movie is named after is far too long a time to take; also, many scenes do have the
tendency to drag out - further putting stress on the film's pacing
problem. In other words, much of the time, you sometimes just feel like screaming at the screen, "GET ON WITH IT!"
- (N) Many of the other characters aren't particularly note-worthy and/or memorable, despite the actors' performances; thus, the characters that do die don't really have the impact they could have had if they were developed more thoroughly.
- (N) The editing can be particularly sloppy at times, with many jarring cuts and noticeably dubbed-over lines.
- (N) The score isn't particularly special; not bad, but not good either.
- (N) The film also occasionally depends upon on-screen subtitles to explain events (many of which we don't see i.e. we don't actually "see" Napoleon escape the Isle of Elba. Instead, we are only merely told that he did. This is more of a nitpick than anything else, but I thought I'd bring it up regardless).
Overall: 7/10
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