In addition to writer David Scarpa, frequent Scott collaborators included cinematographer Dariusz Wolski and editor Claire Simpson.

In 1793, amid the French Revolution, young army officer Napoleon Bonaparte watches Marie Antoinette beheaded by the guillotine.

Later that year, Revolutionary leader Paul Barras has Napoleon manage the Siege of Toulon; he storms the city and repels the British ships with artillery.

After Maximilien Robespierre is deposed and executed at the end of the Reign of Terror, French leaders, including Napoleon, attempt to restore stability.

The Directory criticises him for abandoning his troops, but he condemns them for their poor leadership of France and with several collaborators such as Talleyrand, Fouché, Sieyès and Ducos, overthrows them in the Coup of 18 Brumaire and becomes First Consul.

A year later, Napoleon outmanoeuvres and defeats the Austrians and the Russians at the Battle of Austerlitz, forcing them to retreat over frozen lakes before bombarding the ice and drowning them.

He divorces her in 1810, publicly slapping her in the face when she initially refuses to read her portion of the decree, but the two remain on good terms and continue exchanging friendly letters.

He prevails, despite bloody guerrilla resistance by Don Cossacks, and then fighting the huge Battle of Borodino, but finds Moscow empty and later set aflame.

At the Battle of Waterloo in June, Napoleon, having amassed more troops, confronts the British army under Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington.

Napoleon is exiled, this time to the island of Saint Helena in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, and is seen bantering with children, writing his memoirs that would become read all over the world and presenting to his listeners a version of history where he is always right.

[21] During the same year, Scott also consulted with University of Oxford scholar Michael Broers regarding Napoleon's life, particularly collaborating with him in deconstructing the geography of the Battle of Waterloo.

Scott proposed the idea of beginning the film with Marie Antoinette being under the guillotine, wanting to focus on the "ambivalence about where democracy leads".

[8][9] In February 2024, Deadline Hollywood reported that this gross fell short of covering the film's marketing budget, with revenues falling about $16 million behind.

[72] In the United States and Canada, Napoleon was released alongside Wish and the wide expansion of Saltburn, and was originally projected to gross around $22 million from 3,500 theaters over its five-day Thanksgiving opening weekend.

The website's consensus reads: "Ridley Scott is intent on proving the emperor has no clothes in Napoleon, a slyly funny epic with bravura set pieces and a divided runtime that keeps it from outright conquering.

[74] Critics praised the film's epic scale, battle scenes, and Phoenix and Kirby's performances, while some took issue with the length and Scott's "bloated" direction.

[79] French critics had a less enthusiastic view than those from Britain and America, considering Napoleon "lazy, pointless, boring, migraine-inducing, too short and historically inaccurate.

"[80] A review in Le Figaro stated that the film could have been called "Barbie and Ken under the Empire", and another in the French edition of GQ deemed it to be "deeply clumsy, unnatural and unintentionally funny".

[81] Patrice Gueniffey, a leading historian in Napoleonic studies, called the movie "anti-French and very pro-British" in an interview to Le Point.

[82][83] Writing in The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw gave the film a full five stars and called it a "thrilling biopic", concluding that Scott "doesn't withhold the old-fashioned pleasures of spectacle and excitement.

"[84] Writing in The Observer, Wendy Ide gave it three out of five, calling it a "sturdy epic" that struggled to "show us what drove the military mastermind".

[86] Johnny Oleksinski of the New York Post wrote: "[...] it's too bad Scott could not deliver a brilliant character study of one of the world's great military leaders — and instead settled for letting a self-indulgent Phoenix fly over the cuckoo's nest".

[87] Time Out's Phil de Semylen gave the film three out of five, writing that "Ridley Scott's beefy account of Napoleon's rise to power looks great, is served with some panache, but crucially lacks flavour.

"[88] Many critics of the film's historical aspects, including historians Adam Tooze and Andrew Roberts, believed it ignored Napoleon's numerous non-military achievements, as well as his popularity with the French people.

[107][108] Historian Zack White agreed, arguing the film "swallowed old British propaganda" which depicted Napoleon as a "Corsican ruffian".

[108] Ellin Stein, writing for Slate, pointed out that Napoleon was known for his passion for literature and Enlightenment thought – a far cry from the boorish, loutish soldier that Scott depicts.

[109] Cairo egyptologist Salima Ikram pointed out that Napoleon held the Sphinx and the pyramids in high esteem and used them as motivation for his troops.

[112] The film was criticized for ignoring Napoleon's decision to reinstate slavery in France's overseas colonies in 1802 after it had been abolished by the National Convention following the French Revolution.

[115][121][122] Franz-Stefan Gady, writing for Foreign Policy, described the battle sequences as "a Hollywood mishmash of medieval melees, meaningless cannonades, and World War I-style infantry advances".