Mr. Phoenix's Napoleon could never have commanded so much as a squadron of the Salvation Army, and though the movie is sprinkled with a few reasonably hearty battle scenes, overall it's something like Mr. Scott's Waterloo.

I found it impressive and kind of startling at times, but I was not emotionally moved.

Ridley Scott delivers a spectacular but flavourless French history lesson.

It’s fine to frame your Napoleon as no great wit, but that leaves many scenes with deliberately flat dialogue that stinks of rote exposition.