Napoleon is a “spectacle-filled action epic that details the checkered rise and fall of the iconic French emperor,” reads a synopsis from Sony Pictures Entertainment. “Against a stunning backdrop of large-scale filmmaking orchestrated by legendary director Ridley Scott, the film captures Bonaparte’s relentless journey to power through the prism of his addictive, volatile relationship with his one true love, Josephine, showcasing his visionary military and political tactics against some of the most dynamic practical battle sequences ever filmed.”
In the spirit of Long Film Fall, Napoleon is a healthy two hours and 38 minutes, complimenting its Apple TV+ neighbor Killers Of The Flower Moon (which clocks in at three-and-a-half hours). According to Empire, Scott is hoping Apple will eventually screen his director’s cut, which is a whopping four hours long. That cut apparently features even more of Josephine’s (Vanessa Kirby) life before she became entangled with Napoleon.
In the trailer, Kirby is an alluring seductress and a major power player. “You want to be great, but you are nothing without me. Say it,” she commands her husband. However influential she is, however, Napoleon is the captain of his own fate. “I found the crown of France in the gutter, and place it atop my own head,” he announces imperiously at his coronation. “Whose country are we in?” he snarks elsewhere. “Mine.”
