Napoleon

Somewhere at the nexus of Gladiator and Barry Lyndon resides Ridley Scott’s Napoleon, in which Joaquin Phoenix is allowed (encouraged?) to be weird in between stunning action sequences set amidst rugged natural beauty.

Portraying the notorious M. Bonaparte on his rise from relative obscurity to Emperor, the actor excels at each life juncture, conveying battlefield brilliance and bedroom horniness with equal aplomb.

The balance of visceral war imagery with dark, quirky humor from screenwriter David Scarpa (All the Money in the World) ably captures the multifaceted nature of an immensely talented but intensely flawed individual and leaves viewers in tantalizing wonder at the next amusing anecdotes and details that will arise between iconic battles.

As his beloved Josephine, Vanessa Kirby provides a grounded yet still wild foil for Phoenix’s occasionally Inherent Vice-level quirks, yet it’s Scott who’s the true collaborator here. By surrounding his star with gorgeous scenery and intricate production design, and allowing him to indulge his particular dramatic whimsies, the director crafts an idiosyncratic biopic that stands tall among its stuffy peers.

Grade: A-minus. Rated R. Now playing at AMC River Hills 10, Carolina Cinemark, the Fine Arts Theatre, and Regal Biltmore Grande.

(Photo: Apple)