Weekly Watchlist - 29 November 2023

The Killer and Napoleon

When a film is described as spectacular I’m always a bit wary.

Obviously, the word can be used in a number of different ways. However, when fight choreography or battle scenes are described as “spectacular,” I always meet this with a shrug of the shoulders.

In most movies, I’m there for the performances and story first, then everything else after. Gladiator is filled with huge spectacle, but doesn’t work without you caring what happens to Russell Crowe’s, Maximus. Same goes for the John Wick series. Amazing stunt work in the numerous fights, but if you’re not invested in the main character’s story then you may as well be playing a beat ‘em up computer game.

So, that brings us neatly on to our two films this week. David Fincher’s, The Killer and Ridley Scott’s, Napoleon. Both spectacular in their own way. And, both also containing a spectacular selection of hats! Right, that’s the last time I’m using that word.

I was relieved to read in an interview with Fincher the other day that he thinks The Killer is meant to be a very black comedy. Because, when the movie begins with the unnamed assassin, played with wonderful stoicism by Michael Fassbender, returning to acting after a four year hiatus, there is a voice over explaining in intricate detail his thoughts on his profession, life and the universe in general.

For such a cool, calm and collected character who plans everything in great detail his initial monologues are so predictable and cliched about people being born and dying that they had to be played for laughs. And this proves to be the case later on when he’s in a middle of a scene, monologuing away when something goes badly wrong, totally screws up his plans, and he just stops and thinks, “Shit.”

I’ve said before that I’m not going into too much detail with these modern movies as they’re still on general release, but it’s enough to say the first thirty minutes of this movie are astonishingly good. This ice cold hitman is completely methodical and under control until he’s not, then everything starts to spin away from him.

The fight scenes, when they come, are brutal and gnarly which is exactly how they should be when you’re dealing with people who do this for a living.

Fassbender plays the role to perfection and is joined in the outstanding acting category by Tilda Swinton as a world weary, whisky slugging assassin, who is in the film for about ten minutes and comes very close to stealing the whole thing. I’d like to see a sequel or prequel concerning her character.

I think this is Fincher’s second best movie after Fight Club. I loved it. And it takes a lot for me to say that as the hitman’s music of choice is The Smiths who I absolutely hate. And I mean really hate. People say Morrissey became an tool recently. I always thought he was. Anyway, it certainly didn’t spoil my enjoyment, and I would recommend seeing this on Netflix asap.

Next up is Napoleon starring Joaquin Phoenix as the famous French leader and Vanessa Kirby as his wife Josephine.

Now, I have seen lots of movies in my time, but I have never seen one where I thought it was boring because it was too short.

However, the story telling here is incredibly muddled. I’ll be the first to admit that Napoleonic history is not my strong point, but your lack of knowledge on a particular subject should never be a hinderance to enjoying a movie (Gladiator being a prime example). It’s up to the director and writer to bring everyone along. And I’m not really sure that’s what Ridley Scott and screenwriter, David Scarpa have managed to do.

The film just jumps around far too much with characters disappearing and then reappearing with no explanation, not to mention that I wasn’t really clear who they were in the first place. All of which does suggest that a much longer cut was originally planned and we will hopefully see this on Apple TV early next year.

It’s a real shame because the two leads put in excellent performances.

Phoenix portrays Napoleon with great complexity as a brave, if foolhardy (Invading Russia in the winter? It’ll be fine!) warrior on the battlefield, but a mewling, bratty little man child behind closed doors. There are also hints of his previous Emperor Commodus in his petulance when he doesn’t get his own way.

Vanessa Kirby is truly outstanding in portraying Josephine as a fully rounded person who knows what she wants and how to get it, but not in the conniving way that most powerful female characters are portrayed in these historical epics.

However, the one thing I do know about their relationship is that Josephine was six years older than Napoleon. Kirby is 35 and Phoenix is 49. Because they’re both wonderful actors, most of the time you don’t notice it, but occasionally it does grate. Particularly as it pertains to an important plot point.

All that being said, you would imagine that both of their names will be in the running when it comes to award season.

And, going back to my first point, the battle scenes are horrific and bloody yet they’re also quite short and perfunctory. Again, that may be down to the edit and we’ll see them in more detail in the Directors Cut.

However, it’s interesting that all these years after Ridley Scott being accused of being all style and no substance that he has turned in a film where the performances are, by far, the most impressive thing on screen. It’s definitely mid-tier Scott but I look forward to seeing the correct version of the film when it comes to streaming.

Next week, because peak TV is just about over-taking cinema at the moment, and I’m struggling to watch everything, I’m going to be looking at two shows on Apple TV which seems to be a streaming service that no one is watching, despite it having a lot of great shows. One has Gary Oldman in the best role of his career and the other has Kurt Russell. In snow. Again. Which is more than enough reason to tune in.

I’ll also be starting my Christmas movie articles on Friday which have been good fun to write.

Until next time.