Ridley Scott’s Napoleon is the Thanksgiving trip to the movies you deserve

Napoleon. // Courtesy Apple TV+

It’s almost Thanksgiving! That time of year where you gorge yourself on comfort food, sleep it off just in time for pie, and then probably go see a movie the next day after a round of leftovers and arguing with your family. It’s as traditional as Black Friday online sales (you don’t really go in person anymore, do you?)

There are a few options for your post-feast cinematic sojourns out on or around November 22, but none of them will be as long, as interesting or as widely palatable—unless you have kids with you, sorry about that—as Ridley Scott’s surprising, delightful Napoleon. 

Need to put distance between yourself and your embattled relatives, but still have to hang out under the same roof? Napoleon is two hours and 38 minutes, which with trailers means you can round it up to three. Have a dad or an in-law who only reads non-fiction? Napoleon is packed with military history and battles you’ll be intrigued by whether or not you know a single thing about the Napoleonic Wars. Does your mom, sister or aunt only care if there’s romance or something pretty on screen? Behold: high production values and a significant amount of runtime dedicated to Napoleon and Josephine’s bizarre marriage, complete with MacGruber-level bad sex scenes (no, really).

In all seriousness, Napoleon confirms that Scott is doing some of the most interesting work of his career right now.

His latest has shades of Barry Lyndon, The Death of Stalin and Master and Commander. It’s a great big epic featuring an all-timer performance from Joaquin Phoenix as the titular conqueror spouting endlessly quotable lines. With giant views of battlefields, gnarly explosions and sumptuous sets, Napoleon also looks fantastic on a big screen. It’s genteel. It’s surprisingly funny and topical.

Most importantly, it’s a spectacle of the kind studios haven’t put out in a while, and a reminder that going to the movies is supposed to feel like an event.

Scott’s film follows Phoenix’s Napoleon Bonaparte as he steadily climbs the ranks of the French military, then ascends through the halls of power. He meets and marries Josephine (Vanessa Kirby), a former aristocrat who’s desperate for financial security after spending years in jail during the French Revolution. Napoleon makes allies of other world leaders who then become his enemies by ditching him for other allies, which reads kind of like Mean Girls meets Risk. 

Phoenix plays all of this like a 19th century adult version of the kid at your high school who always carried a briefcase. He’s diplomatic, insecure, petty as hell and never stops believing he’s destined for greatness. He’s the kind of guy who spits out awkward comebacks like “You think you’re so great because you have boats” to a military enemy, then proceeds to put his money where his mouth is by soundly kicking said enemy’s butt on the battlefield—in this case it’s Austria and Russia at the battle of Austerlitz, which is shot brutally and beautifully.

In addition to making all this history endlessly engaging, Napoleon holds up an interesting historical mirror to our present, where we’re still processing the ongoing fallout of January 6. In Napoleon, we get a series of insurrections and coup d’état, some of which Napoleon is part of, and one of which he leads after returning from exile.

His thin skin and dangerous whims would feel Trumpian if the guy wasn’t actually a skilled military tactician seemingly beloved by his troops and respected by his enemies, a realization that opens up a curious philosophical can of worms.

Like Scott’s 2021 historical drama The Last Duel, Napoleon is a welcome surprise. It could very easily have been an overlong, dull slog. Instead does exactly what a historical epic should do: it makes you curious about the history it’s depicting. Scott orchestrates the grandiosity here with the skill you’d expect from the guy who made Gladiator, bolstered by a Weird Little Guy performance from someone who also played a Weird Little Guy in Gladiator.

It may seem like a lot going in, but you’ll be surprised how quickly the time flies by.

Napoleon. // Courtesy Apple TV+ and Album/Alamy