SoTrumpBelieve Must See Movie...

Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

Hattie I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

kornerbrandon I just finished watching this series and it's just brilliant. Being Australian, I'm not aware of Christian Clavier's other films, but I'm told he's better known for his comedy roles. If that's true, the Clavier must've also had a knack for drama, because he has given quite possibly the most human interpretation of Napoleon.However, he also had an incredible supporting cast to back him up. Isabella Rossellini and John Malkovich are fantastic, as usual. Gérard Depardieu was brilliant as Fouché. Alain Doutey and Claudio Amendola were excellent as Marshal Ney and Marshal Murat respectively.The costumes are very well-designed, so it's not hard to see why it won an Emmy for it. Among the well-done parts are the battle scenes. While few and far between, they are utterly fantastic.Overall, 10/10

AJS218 On the plus side: the costumes and interiors are magnificent, Isabella Rossellini is good as Josephine, the historical events depicted are presented accurately, and the series gets better as it goes along (don't give up after the muddled first episode!).On the minus side: we never really get a feel for what Napoleon actually stood for or why and how he was such a military genius, the film dwells on his private life when it could be dealing with the huge social and political issues of the time, the actors playing some of the secondary characters are laughably bad (Murat, Ney, Marie-Louise), and one has to strain to hear the dialogue (due to the foreign accents, background noise and music).As for Christian Clavier, it's amazing how the comments on his performance stretch from "brilliant" to "trash." My own view is that he was off the mark as the younger Napoleon, but as the mature Napoleon had basically the right look and plenty of gravitas.A good contribution to the body of film about the Emperor but also full of flaws.

missmarmite I was never interested in Napoleon. Although I visited the Louvre I didn't go to see Napoleon's chambers, which are on display there. I would have never watched this series if it wasn't for the actors in it. And now, after six hours of Napoleon and nothing but Napoleon, I actually got interested in the chap and think about reading a biography. And I'm sure this is down to the excellent performance of Christian Clavier. Simple as that.Okay, his English could be a tiny bit better, agreed, but I rather get used to an accented English than to a bad performance by English native speakers. Christian Clavier is truly an excellent actor, although he might be best known (in France) for his parts in very silly comedies. If he only decided to take more "serious" parts, maybe more people would notice what a fantastic talent he has. What he can express just with his eyes is quite stunning. But that may be a female point of view...The other well known actors had, of course, smaller parts, in comparison. But none of them was miscast. And I especially liked how actors from different countries once again worked together. This as well is what the European idea is about.One of the few things I didn't like were the flashbacks at the end. They were completely out of place and should be cut out. They don't make sense at all at the end of the film.And a last remark about Monsieur Clavier's language skills: The first way he said "Ich liebe dich" got me guffawing, the second way he made my heart melt. Maybe he should think about doing a film in German...?

avilr What a shocking disappointment. I bought the Napoleon 2 DVDs edition, as a gift to myself for Christmas and, what a waste of money . and time waiting for it. The product is so bad in contents as in features; it even lacks the actual almost standard Close Captioning.I have read some biography and historical books about Bonaparte and his time, and I can't stand for Depardieu casting Fouche, I think it could be better as a Marshal, Ney, Lannes of somebody like them.Napoleon casting actor is anything but `imperial', for the man who forged by himself the greatest empire in human history. Where are the famous Marshals? Across hours and hours of soap opera, all we see is two or three puppets in uniform. The top of ridiculous is the mid-eastern bodyguard Napoleon got from his Egypt campaign, remarkable.You get tired of see Napoleon, alone, reading papers or playing with maps and lead soldiers, lost in the immensity of the palaces, and the overacting (as many of his plays) Malkovich spying through doors. Napoleon spent his years as France head of state, when in office, surrounded by tens and hundreds of clerks, messengers, ministers (not only Police - Fouche and Foreign Affairs - Talleyrand), aides du camp, and . in first place, his `Joint of Chiefs', leaded by the superb Marshal Berthier.At last, but not least in the insanity, the time (and the weight on the drama) gift to Josephine de Beauharnais. She was an important lady of French high society, but the emperor's romance with her was short in time - against the almost 20 years he commanded France destiny - and, more important, probably was calculated from his part, because the important connections and relations she had in society, but he, as a young officer of provinces, lacked.Is true, he was fair with her son, Eugene de Beauharnais, named him general, prince of the empire and Viceroy of Italy. Eugene was fighting for his stepfather from 1796 to 1814. But, he earned all these awards because his own merits as a fine officer and not because his mother influenced over the emperor.