Empire of the Sun (1987) User Reviews

Extraordinary performance from Christian Bale

[wisewebwoman · 8/10 · 31 May 2004]

I had put off watching this until recently, I do not know why, I had not read reviews and for some reason imagined it to be a movie about a young Japanese prince(!!).

I was captivated by the performance of Christian Bale as a privileged young boy named Jim Graham, growing up in Shanghai, very far removed from the poverty and despair all around him. When war breaks out, this changes him forever and hence the story.

After some harrowing experiences he winds up in a prisoner of war camp where he befriends some interesting characters and quickly adapts to a life of conniving and subterfuge to survive.

The transformation of Jim is beautifully captured, Steven Spielberg is a gifted director of child actors and gets a maximum performance always.

I was enthralled from beginning to end, young Jim was forever changed by his experiences and this change is portrayed starkly here when he is finally reunited with his parents.

8 out of 10 for equally impressive performances from John Malkovich and Miranda Richardson, but Christian Bale's performance deserved an Oscar.

Extraordinary film

[artzau · 8/10 · 19 August 2001]

Reading through the reviews, there were a lot of people who didn't understand this film. This is Spielberg's venture into the realm of art in cinematography. This film is a visual masterpiece and you are swept along from beginning to end. Yes, the tale gets a bit loose in spots and you never know what's going to happen next. But, if you're willing to give up warm and fuzzy for lush visual images and startling leaps of character, you'll see what Spielberg's trying to accomplish. This film makes use of the talents of Miranda Richardson and gives some early exposure to the likes of John Malkovich and Ben Stiller, but young Christian Bale steals the show. The reviewer that commented on the "gothic" effect of the Tai-Pan's going to the costume ball being driven through Shanghai was right on. This film is rife with such scenes and does not disappoint. It's wholly misleading to look for some kind of action story underlying this film. The tale, taken from the book, is straightforward enough: a young boy's boost into manhood through the second world war. The film is full of memorable moments and visually very, very pleasing. As art, it is excellent. That's likely why it wasn't a blockbuster, as say, e.g., Poltergeist, Close Encounters and the Jurassic Park films, were. But, hey. That's the cost of creating art as opposed to crap. And, crap does draw a lot of flies...

An Underrated Classic

[JoshuaMHetu · 8/10 · 21 November 2019]

In 1987 Steven Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun" opened to mixed reviews and disappointing box office returns. But the film's reputation has grown with time, and it's now rightfully considered an underrated Spielberg classic. "Empire of the Sun" tells the true story of Jim Ballard, an English boy who's separated from his parents in China during World War II. Featuring an excellent performance from the young Christian Bale, "Empire of the Sun" is an emotional and visually striking drama about loss, family, and the horror of war. Spielberg also uses Ballard's story to address thought-provoking questions about social privilege, militarism, and the lengths that humans will go to in order to survive. Spielberg doesn't provide easy answers to these questions, making this one of his more mature and contemplative works.

Having seen "Empire of the Sun" multiple times, I've grown to deeply appreciate it as both a sweeping historical epic and a powerful tale of a traumatic childhood. The movie isn't perfect - at two and a half hours it's too long. The second act in particular drags and this causes the movie to lose much of its dramatic momentum halfway through. But despite its length "Empire of the Sun" does more than enough to maintain your interest with compelling performances, amazing visuals, and of course John Williams' award winning score. 8/10.

From a Japanese girl

[Angel326 · 3 November 1998]

This is the first time I commented on a film. I saw this yesterday night for the first time. And I just cried.

I cried for Jim. I cried for the pain our country caused in the innocent civilians. (Japan can be so stupid!) I cried for the pilots of the Zero-sen.

I've read and seen lots of movies of these pilots. They're called tokoutai in Japanese. They get on their planes knowing they will die. It's a suicide mission, and they were very proud of it. I know if you're on the winning side you may not sympathize these pilots, but they were just fighting for their country. In those days, the emperor was everything. They taught you to die for the emperor at school when you were only in 1st grade.

But I don't know the war. I've never experienced it. I can't understand the concept of dying for your emperor. So I sympathise with Jim. Jim is a symbol. A symbol of innocence, of the horrors of war. His singing proves that too. He's also the ray of light for these prisoners. His energy and vitality are important aspects. It brings out some human characteristics in the sergent as well.

Christian Bale was remarkable. He should be commemorated or something for this performance, cause it was just brilliant. So was John Malcovich.

Overall it was great. One of the best movies I ever saw. It made me think, a lot. About war, about Japan, about history, and about humans in general.

Survivng life when your world has been turned upside down.

[gbavedas77 · 10/10 · 6 January 2005]

I saw this movie 17 years ago as a ten year old in the theater and saw it again for the first time since then last night on a TV movie channel. I have to say I'm almost ashamed that I forgot what a great movie this was...what a great movie it still is. The film contains parts very competently played by the then relatively un-knowns John Malkovic, Joey "Pants" and Ben Stiller. The lead was played, and very well done at that, by a then young actor Christian Bales (sp?). The acting in this movie is fantastic and the story line is is as rich as any other of the best movies I've seen. Following the trials and tribulations of a child from an affluent family separated from his parents in China after the Japanese invasion. This movie will make you angry, it will make you laugh, it will make you cry, it will frustrate the living daylights out of you and in the end you'll feel warm and fuzzy: but the hollow kind of warm and fuzzy that only comes after a very harrowing experience. If you don't like war movies don't worry!!! When you watch this film you'll see it's not as much of a war movie as it is a story of survival and the brutal realities of life when the world has been turned upside down. The movie really spoke to me partially b/c I was a young kid when I first saw it and the main character is also a young man. However, this movie also spoke to me on a much different, deeper level. Ever since I was child I was always fortunate/blessed enough to have my family along with everything I needed and most of what I wanted. This movie depicts what happens when all of those familiar things and creature comforts are taken away...it makes you ask yourself: What would I do in this situation? How would I react? A fantastic movie for almost all ages!!!

I'm appalled this didn't win any of 6 Oscars it was nominated for

[UniqueParticle · 10/10 · 28 April 2020]

Empire of the Sun is masterfully directed, cinematography, music and acting are phenomenal! So nice to see young Christian Bale in this whirlwind of adventurous war drama. A captivating piece of cinema that is thrilling entertainment throughout about the brits and Japanese. John Malkovich is one of the best actors ever; so is Joe Panatolio I appreciate any project they're in. Steven Spielberg can't make a bad movie in my opinion, I want to own more of them.

an episodic story laced with David Lean influence, impressive sights, though not enough

[Quinoa1984 · 6/10 · 4 September 2006]

Empire of the Sun must have been something that made Steven Spielberg all the more excited to work on being that, before each film he directs, he watches four specific films- The Searchers, Seven Samurai, It's a Wonderful Life, and Lawrence of Arabia- the latter of those four, and the fact that Lean originally intended to direct this film, indicate how he wanted to go with the style, the sprawling and epic tone. But if in the end I didn't feel as totally satisfied as I thought I should (it's been called one of the most underrated films of Spielberg/the 80's), it might be that parts become more interesting and worth watching than for the whole. Acting-wise the two main forces in the film, one a young, brilliant-as-a-child actor Christian Bale embodies Jamie/Jim as a kid who does go through a transformation, the typical 'coming-of-age' where he loses more than just his parents in the chaos but part of himself. The other is John Malkovich, who plays the surrogate/friend during war-time to the boy, a more hard-edged but sharp guy who's out for himself but not completely shut-off from others.

And as with any given Spielberg film, at least one or two visuals will strike up as being pretty close to what could be called "pure cinema", where you feel a kind of rush on the back of your neck at what can be done with color, light, composition, people (optional), and music. One of these might be in the first hour of the film- maybe my favorite chunk for just consistency- as Jamie first goes through the toughest part, put into the disillusionment of his fantasies of aircrafts and flying and out on his own. Jamie gets lost from his parents in a massive sea of a crowd in the city, and it's a reminder how astounding Spielberg can be with the control of it all, and how every detail adds up to an emotional toll. Once Ballard's original story (based on truth, how much I don't know) reaches into the prison camp, it becomes spotty; sometimes parts of the story work, and sometimes they don't and become a little dramatically inert. Never does Spielberg completely lose his craftsmanship, but there's something not there. Part of it might be the excision of the main chunk of war years (1941 right to 1945 in a fade), but another part of it might be somethings that just ring a little more to the sentimental than Spielberg might realize.

When Jim, for example, sees the Japanese fliers on the airfield in some minor ceremony, and he starts to sing his old choir-boy song, it just didn't seem right after such better, smaller scenes between Malkovich and Bale. Still, through this Spielberg does provide another point of great cinema, in the shot that inspired the poster of the towering sun with the plane flying across it. It's little rousing moments like this that do make the film worth seeing, but if you're coming into it after already seeing many of his great works (Schindler, Private Ryan, Munich), the real devastation from being in this situation is never as fully realized as past some kind of brighter nostalgia. There are some darker moments, but it never adds up, and certainly not from the point of view of a conflicted boy who goes through this experience of Japanese internment like Lawrence in a small way- he's a little mad, though courageous. But through Spielberg's own epic ambitions, there's something lost with really making it entertaining. It's bound to find more viewers as the years go on, and it was unfairly maligned upon its original release. Yet the irony doesn't escape me that it is sort of a minor work for the director, working on a huge canvas of locales, extras, and actors both Western and Eastern.

A great adventure for a child

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 21 November 2016]

I can see that a tale told from a child's point of view how it would stir the imagination of one Steven Spielberg. Empire Of The Sun is a really imaginative story of a young boy stuck in World War II China in a truly terrible situation cut off from his parents. Yet young Christian Bale turns the whole thing gradually into an adventure of sorts.

Up to the age of 11 young Bale has lived in the British quarter of Shanghai and in fact has never seen the United Kingdom, his father Rupert Frazer owns a textile factory. Bale and his parents live in luxury among the millions of Chinese.

What one should remember when watching Empire Of The Sun is that since the Opium War of 1841 western powers and Japan joined them took small little nibbles out of China and in fact were granted by the weak Chinese governments special treatment in their quarters. Frazer, Emily Richard his wife and young Bale lived under British law and did not answer to the Chinese. The other powers did the same, even the USA had its own quarter in Shanghai as well as other large Chinese cities. That only ended with the Communist takeover in 1949.

It ended a bit prematurely for the west in 1941 when the Japanese attacked America, Great Britain, the Netherlands. That's when Bale's well ordered world falls apart.

I had to marvel at how when Bale came home and the parents were gone and some looting had occurred how his reactions were. Without any dialog Bale runs through a gamut of emotions. Great job of acting and directing.

Later on Bale is rounded up and taken to an internment camp next to an airfield. Fascinating how Bale who had an interest in aviation looks at the Japanese planes and become almost worshipful of the enemy. He even makes friend with some of the Japanese, a group not known for treating prisoners well in World War II.

Joe Pantoliano and John Malkovich are a pair of American adventurers, no better than they ought to be. They're caught along with Bale and sent to the internment camp. Our adult eyes see them as a pair of bottom feeders. But we see them through the child's eyes also and they become sort of devil may care rogues that one reads in pulp fiction the kind Bale no doubt read.

Steven Spielberg did a marvelous job of recreating wartime China and it certainly helped to shoot the film there. Just part of the People's Republic's post Mao entry into the community of nations.

The adult performers are fine. Empire Of The Sun got a flock of Oscar nominations in technical categories, no gold though. But it did inaugurate the career of Christian Bale who's done pretty well for himself as an adult actor too.

This one is highly recommended for its realism and encouragement of imagination.

A Movie Of Great Moments Without Being A Great Movie

[Theo Robertson · 7/10 · 22 July 2004]

From Spring Of 1940 to the Summer of 1941 Britain experienced " Its finest hour " where an island people found itself fighting alone against Nazi Germany and fascist Italy . We experienced Dunkirk , the blitz , the battle of Britain and 36,000 British and commonwealth troops held back a force of 400,000 Italian troops in North Africa . If Britain had accepted the Nazi peace deal on offer the history of the human race would have been entirely different and not in a good way either . Ironically after this zenith of British courage we went onto lose the peace which is something we've been resentful about ever since

I'm being neither nostalgic nor nostalgic when I point out the above . It's just in the early scenes of EMPIRE OF THE SUN the Brits in China are shown as being arrogant , ignorant phillistines who all live in nice big houses . Maybe this might have been true of those Brits living in ivory towers running the empire but it's an atypical view of the average Brit during the second world war . I might have let it pass but seeing as the director's Steven Spielberg who insists on always casting British actors to play Nazis in all his movies and who put the boot into Monty in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN I can't help thinking he's somewhat Anglophobic . Read my opening paragraph and you'll learn more about Britain in the second world war than you will from seeing this movie

There's other flaws in the screenplay ( Written by Tom Stoppard who's not an American by the way ) which people have noticed . It is rather disjointed and episodic . The audience is shown the events of the Japanese Imperial Army invading Shanghai in 1941 where all the Westerners are put into a holding camp then events jump forward almost FOUR years later where the prisoners are held in an internment camp . What ? Nothing of any interest has happened in four years ? Some critics have also mentioned the rather clichéd characters and I agree . The Brits are all rather stiff upper lipped types while the Yanks have a cheeky extrovert attitude with plenty of scams going on . Did the Americans have a monopoly on scams during the war ? I also have serious reservations on the way the Japanese are portrayed in this movie . When Alexander Solzhenitsyn said " The only difference between the Nazis and the communists is that the Nazis used gas " it's a statement that could have been used to describe the Japanese occupation forces of the 1930s and 40s , but here they're shown as noble warriors ( I don't dispute the raw courage of the Japanese of the time but there's nothing noble about mass murder ) who salute the young James . If the author of the book JG Ballard said it this scene happened then it happened but I do have many reservations about the Japanese portrayal

There are many positive aspects to EMPIRE OF THE SUN . Technically it's very good with some fine scenes like the above saluting scene and the mustang flying over the internment camp with the pilot waving to young James in slow motion and the scene where the young protagonist believes he can resurrect his dead friend but for me the best scene is where Basie is allowed onto a truck where he turns his back on James who is left behind in a heart wrenching moment . It's these moments that linger long in the memory and certainly make EMPIRE OF THE SUN a far better regarded film than it certainly deserves to be

It's also a film with a very good cast who rise above the material . It's surprising to think this now but when the movie was released in 1987 both Nigel Havers and Miranda Richardson where only known for their sit com roles. Richardson ( So awful in BLACKADDER 2 ) is very good here and went onto to become more or less Britain's best actress in the early 1990s and there's early screen appearances by Joe Panoliano , Ben Stiller ( Yes that one ) and Paul McGann . Despite playing an irritating character ( And characters don't come anymore irritating than a 14 year old boy with a bi-polar disorder ) Christian Bale is excellent and it's nice to know he still gets regular employment as an adult actor . The only disappointment is John Malkovich but I've never been a fan of his " Stoned Jack Nicolson " type of acting and like I said he does appear in the movie's best scene

EMPIRE OF THE SUN has it's moments but that's all they are - moments . They stay in the mind making you believe that it's a far better movie than it actually is . It's not by any stretch of the imagination a bad or even average film but it's not a masterpiece either . Perhaps the fact that it was nominated for several Oscars ( None of which were for best film or director ) but failed to win any shows up it's true worth

A visual masterpiece, very moving and thought-provoking and Christian Bale is extraordinary

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 6 June 2011]

I do like a vast majority of Steven Spielberg's movies, and Empire of the Sun I feel is one of his best, alongside Schindler's List, ET, Jaws, Jurassic Park and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Spielberg's direction is superb, and there is a thoughtful script and very touching story. Empire of the Sun also has characters that I personally did care for, pacing that didn't feel too rushed and glacial and the acting from the likes of Miranda Richardson, Nigel Havers and John Malkovich is truly terrific. Three assets especially stand out. Empire of the Sun like all of Spielberg's movies is a triumph when it comes to visuals, the cinematography, lighting, scenery and effects are all lovingly crafted. John Williams' score is also fantastic and enhances the drama, not his most iconic of his scores, that would be a three-way tie between Jaws, Schindler's List and ET, it serves its purpose very well. Lastly, Christian Bale is absolutely extraordinary in this film, I do like him very much as an actor, but I don't think I have ever seen him this powerful or poignant. Overall, a wonderful movie and one of my personal favourites from Spielberg. 10/10 Bethany Cox

well made Spielberg

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 1 September 2015]

While Japan is conquering China, foreigners live in the Shanghai International Settlement oblivious to the suffering. Jamie Graham (Christian Bale) is a spoiled British upper class schoolboy. In the chaos of the Japanese taking Shanghai, Jamie's parents lose him in the crowd. He goes home to find his servants stealing the valuables. He is found by Basie (John Malkovich) and Frank Demarest (Joe Pantoliano) who are also stranded in Shanghai. He is taken to an assembly center along with Basie who teaches him how to survive. In the camp, Jamie lives with the Victors.

Spielberg is a master of a child's wonderment. That's what he does here. Despite the movie's subject matter, it never gets to be truly disturbing or ugly. He always pulls back a little earning its PG rating. Jamie can be an annoying spoiled brat. At times, he seems to be deliberately dense. Christian Bale does an amazing acting job. It is a wonderfully shot movie. Although it may not get the perfect sense of the reality.

Very emotional film, with brilliant young Christian Bale.

[tegg96 · 10/10 · 27 January 2004]

Empire of the Sun, I have just revisited this film on DVD and was amazed the effect it left on me. This is almost an unknown film relative to most other Spielberg work. The DVD is not even available in Australia, so I had it 'Amazoned' from the US.

Christian Bales performance as the 12 year old Jim is mesmerizing. He is in virtually every scene of the 2.5 hour movie and gives us the full range of emotions. He also one of the best looking kids I've seen, which add tremendously to the viewing appeal of the movie. A true heart throb in the making.

As a history lesson Empire give us an insight to the happenings in China in WWII, and the ambitions of the Japanese Empire, which are never touched on in other WWII movies.

The most emotional part of the film for me: Jim is looking through the fence at the Japanese airbase, the sun is setting, he is dreaming of flying in those incredible machines, pilots are smartly uniformed and decorated, offices passing drinks to the young pilots, superb music playing, Zeros ready to go, Jim salutes the Japanese heroes as they are flying out. What we know is that the war is lost for Japan and these pilots are surely on Kamikaze suicide missions. We feel great empathy for these fellow human beings despite the fact that they are the enemy.

The images in Empire are beautiful to look at, the movie is thought provoking and provide some history lesson, if somewhat fantasy and sacrine sweet. A behind the scenes war movie with heart. My favourite Spielberg movie and in my top 15 of all time. Other favourites in no order. Titanic, Patton, Unforgiven, Airport, Terminator, Salaam Bombay, 2001, Bridge on River Kwai, Minority Report.

Unfairly neglected and despised - not least by me

[Spleen · 7/10 · 16 November 2001]

I adored "Empire of the Sun" when I first saw it. I was seventeen; I had only recently discovered how some movies could grow, looking richer and better on repeated viewings, and I fully expected this one to, as well.

So naturally I was disappointed when, instead of growing, it shrunk. The streetwise American proved to be a fairly stale character - he began to look as if Spielberg was simultaneously reaching for the cynical American in "The Bridge on the River Kwai", and Han Solo, and failing to grasp either. And the central character, I noticed, undergoes a hell of a lot: war breaks out over his head, he loses his parents during an outbreak of mass panic, he nearly starves, he's imprisoned by the Japanese and rescued by the Americans - and what, then, is the moral of it all? That people change. The story is a good deal less interesting than I first took it to be.

Well, I now realise, so what. It's not the film's fault that I first saw it when I was seventeen. The whole may be less than the sum of the parts, but the sum of the parts is a pretty big sum. There's that wonderful extended sequence, which lasts from when Jim loses his parents until he (and I admit that this part is a turn for the worse) meets the American: for a while it looks as if Spielberg cannot set a foot wrong. The way he returns to his old house and haunts it like a ghost. The way one of his old Chinese servants stops packing, methodically walks over to him, slaps him across the face, and then resumes her packing. It was the most economical way of getting through to the boy, it needed to be done, she'd wanted to do it for a while - and having done it ONCE, she could now move on to other things. The latter stretch of the movie, while disappointing, continued to serve up moments like these. The cinematography is a delight throughout, and not just because these are pretty pictures. Spielberg uses flawless images and cold, starry music to distance us from the scenes of war and privation and death and this is, I think his finest achievement: the whole film takes on the quality of vivid memories of things that cannot now be altered.

Apparently David Lean tried and failed to turn J.G. Ballard's book into a film - and indeed it looks as if Spielberg, too, tried and failed to make a David Lean film. But Lean soars so high there's plenty of room for others to fly beneath him without crashing. It may be the influence of Lean that makes the best film Spielberg made between "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Schindler's List". It's a far better study in war than "Saving Private Ryan". That film is as cheap and unsubtle as can be: it shocks us with blood and guts, then wears us down with inane spoken platitudes. "Empire of the Sun" lets us conclude the nature of the horror, and draw lessons, for ourselves.

Mind-bendingly stupid

[webmaster-49 · 3/10 · 28 October 2005]

I read some of these comments and I'm totally floored. The acting was horrid and forced, mostly due to the director creating scenes and instructing his actors to respond in completely unrealistic ways, such as when the parents of the "lost" children simply stand around staring at the assembled children until, after an eternity, one parent recognizes their kid. Um, yeah, right. Nobody would shout out a name, right? None of the kids recognize their own freaking parents. And this movie is full of moments like this.

The Japanese come off almost like clownish figures, the Chinese as mere backdrops in their own country. The set pieces are ridiculous and none of this is even remotely close to actual history. I don't care if this is told from "the boy's perspective." That's not an excuse for lazy, unfocused, and completely unrealistic work. OK, so it's not supposed to be realism. It's "surrealism." Well, it fails on that level too as it doesn't produce a sense of wonder or fascination, but rather a sense of endless irritation and boredom as scenes go on and on, or simply cut to another unrelated scene. If Spielberg was shooting for some kind of "war as seen from a kid's point of view" he really blew it, unless we're to believe children are on a permanent happy acid trip.

Scored like a soaring Disney kid's flick and sanitized to the point of being an insult, this movie is worthless. Another example of Spielberg's total inability to cover serious subjects with anything other than the mentality of a semi-autistic child. Jim's transformations are completely phony, based on nothing more than the script. Annoying English boy turns into bad-acting English boy.

Don't let the high ratings fool you. You have been warned.

ASTOUNDING

[NeuroticMovieLover · 13 December 2004]

I came across this film while I was flipping through the channels on my t.v. This is truly an astounding film. The inimitable dialogue, the dazzling scenes, and most importantly the profundity of its premise make this film unforgettable and worthy of sycophantic obsession. I was completely enraptured by the brilliant acting. I believe this is Steven Spielberg's most noteworthy film. His other movies pale in comparison to this one. John Malkovich and Christian Bale are incredible as usual, but in this film they bring to life a story of a boy who loses everything due to a country trying to conquer everything. The physical and mental destruction of war and the injurious effects of loneliness are very clichéd themes, but this film conveys them in an incomparable way. This is undoubtedly one of my favorite films, and I suggest that everyone take the time to watch it. It would be exceedingly foolish of one to not watch it.

Brilliant and Amazing

[DutchOompaLoompa · 10/10 · 9 January 2005]

Empire of the Sun is about a wealthy British boy living in British controlled states of China during WW2. He is torn from his parents and placed in a camp for British citizens. He tries to find a way to connect the good of his old life to the good life in the camp and a life filled with war, but finds that no matter what there is no good out of war. This is an amazingly underrated film that should be watched by a mature, attentive person. This film is laced with compassion and power put in one. A must see for war buffs (or for Spielberg buffs). No matter what even if you hate this film, you will have a favorite part. One of Spielberg greatest films ever made (personally his greatest). 10/10

Awesome...Bale's performance brought me to tears...

[Doylenf · 8/10 · 28 June 2005]

EMPIRE OF THE SUN is a gem of movie-making. Visually arresting from start to finish, given a sumptuous musical score by John Williams and some of the finest cinematography ever seen, it is hard to understand why the film is not as highly acclaimed as it ought to be...nor is it fitting that it was nominated for six Academy Awards but received none.

It's a sweeping epic but depends on capturing your interest by giving the main burden to the young Christian Bale who certainly has one of the great child roles of a lifetime as Jim--and becomes the character so completely that his final reunion with his parents brings tears to the eyes. By that time, the viewer has been through so much with him, watching as he grows from spoiled rich kid to a wily boy who must fend for himself among the wolf-pack of prisoners interred by the Japanese.

Basically, it's the real life story of one boy's survival during the outbreak of World War II when he is separated from his British parents during the evacuation of Shanghai. It is a spectacularly staged evacuation scene that is topped throughout by other scenes of visual splendor and poignant moments that stay in the memory long after the film is over. The boy's fascination with the beauty of planes and the horrors of war are well documented--as is his strange fascination with the Japanese and his doomed friendship with a Japanese boy.

The film falls squarely on the shoulders of Christian Bale, so much so that the supporting players are never fully fleshed characters. However, all of them within a limited range--including John Malkovich, Miranda Richardson and Nigel Havers--do magnificent jobs. Steven Spielberg's direction cannot be faulted. He has given us a closeup glimpse of war and its effect on people that can only be rivaled by his later masterwork, SCHINDLER'S LIST.

Technically, the film is a brilliant achievement in all of its World War II details. And Christian Bale certainly deserved an Oscar for what has to be one of the strongest performances ever given by a child actor, with never a false step, every nuance just perfect.

Over-the-top drama that is good looking and well acted but that I never really enjoyed watching.

[Boba_Fett1138 · 6/10 · 11 December 2005]

Just because the movie is good looking and directed by one of the best movie directors of all time doesn't automatically mean that the movie itself is good as well. "Empire of the Sun" has a slow story that isn't always told from the right perspective.

Really the biggest problem of the movie is the perspective it is told from. The entire movie is told through the eyes of a child played by a young Christian Bale. Sure, Christian Bale is a great actor and he now is Batman and all, so people will only love him more in this movie now but that doesn't all mean that Christian Bale as a kid was good and strong enough to carry an entire movie on his own. And this movie is really about Christian Bale's character alone. There is nothing wrong with telling a story through the eyes of a child and it can work really powerful but a movie like that also needs a good supporting adult cast to give the movie more credibility and give the movie some more characters to relate with. The movie does has a great supporting cast (John Malkovich, Miranda Richardson, Joe Pantoliano and a young and 'serious' Ben Stiller in an early role.) but none of these actors are used consistent enough in the movie, with as a result that Christian Bale has to carry the entire movie on its own.

Visually the movie is really spectacular to look at. The cinematography by Allen Daviau is magnificent and there are some well directed and good looking sequences in the movie. Also lets please not forget the brilliant musical score by John Williams that makes some of the sequences work extremely well and gives the movie some extra boost and power.

The movie is not always correctly paced and there are some death moments in the movie were nothing really interesting ever happens. The movie does concentrate well on the emotions and feelings of especially the young boy Jim/Jamie but that doesn't always make the movie interesting to watch. It has never really been a movie that I particularly enjoyed watching, because of the at times low pace and narrow minded and very one-person sided perspective the movie is told from.

In its emotions and dramatic moments, the movie really goes over-the-top at times. The movie can be seen as an over-dramatized one that doesn't always is believable in its story. There is some typical and predictable Spielberg sentimental stuff in the movie. The over-the-top level of this movie does provide the movie with some wonderful and unforgettable sequences but at the same time its a killer for the story and the movie its credibility.

Yes the movie is perfectly watchable and its beautiful looking and all but the story and perspective makes this not really a movie that I like to watch. One of Spielberg's lesser movies. I'm sure that the book is great though! But the story doesn't really work in a movie.

6/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

a good look at the issues of the setting

[lee_eisenberg · 10/10 · 26 October 2005]

Based on J.G. Ballard's autobiography, "Empire of the Sun" portrays spoiled English boy Jim Graham (Christian Bale) getting taken prisoner by the Japanese army in WWII-era Shanghai. In the POW camp, he meets several American POWs and is forced to totally grow up.

You really see how good this movie is when you understand the issues that it portrays. All of these foreign powers were trying to colonize China. The British felt that they could just live there with no fear; they were oblivious to the coming of the Japanese army. Some really good scenes show Jim in the choir (showing how the English were trying to continue their lifestyle), and then as his family is driving home, they drive past a homeless Chinese man, a reminder of the effects of colonialism. One important point is that the men whom Jim gets to know in the POW camp are not particularly desirable men; specifically, Basie (John Malkovich) is sort of a pirate. The point is that this experience forces him to grow up. In his debut, Ben Stiller also plays one of the American POWs.

All in all, "Empire of the Sun" is a great movie. Steven Spielberg accomplished another masterpiece here. Not to be missed.

Near immaculately put together wartime tale about a boy winding up on a front-line of poverty and hard times.

[johnnyboyz · 7/10 · 11 March 2012]

Empire of the Sun is a gruelling child orientated character piece which taps into a child's fear of isolation as well as going all out in being a thoroughly engrossing war drama with a keen eye on depicting the horrors such an event. The film will begin and end with that of a container, of sorts, floating easily along a water way. They are, however, two very different containers carrying very different things and yet are intrinsically linked by the fact that what they possess are effectively deceased and gone. Where coffins housing the dead line a river during the opening few shots, a small suitcase in possession of the belongings held throughout by that of a certain character is seen gently floating off and away; the image signifying times having moved on, that the 'old' character is gone and a new, more-exposed-to-the-world in ways which would have never normally happened, is here.

That character is Jamie Graham, played by Christian Bale; an infant initially living in the Chinese city of Shanghai just prior to Japan's attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbour and as a consequence, the majority of the Pacific's nations official entry into World War Two. He lives an affluent life with his rich parents, a blazer-clad boy singing harmoniously in a church when we first see him and later chauffeured back to a huge manor house in a neighbourhood firmly informing us of how he lives. What is more revealing, however, is the trawl home through the grime of some of the less desirable places native to the country; paupers and beggars, one of whom sits outside the property, sharing eye contact with Jamie in a reflective moment like they were from separate planets.

Jamie loves his aeroplanes, and upon finding a downed fighter in a field during a function some miles away, clambers into it so as to enthusiastically act out war-games as if the pilot. Said notion is often found in war films which mistake acts of warfare as processions of action, and thus ought to be shot or constructed as exciting when the harsh reality of the subject is that they're anything but. Spielberg's film is more a project depicting someone taken from their bubbled existence and thrust into a limelight of real wartime poverty and survival thus forcing reflection. Events cause the film to progress into what is essentially a prisoner of war movie, but a prisoner of war film keeping clear of sugar coating such a situation and doing well to maintain a sense of causality mired down in the turgidness and ugliness of a wartime scenario moreover the bouncy, joyous one more inclined to rear up when escape is the sole purpose of the film's exercise.

Once everything has happened away from where we are, and the Japanese have formally invaded this territory given their entry into the war, Jamie is separated from his parents in a street-set panic so returns to his home for a series of scenes shot as if the apocalypse has just happened or a nationwide epidemic has occurred forcing isolation and hiding. What is impressive is how the film goes about depicting Jamie's central transition, a film full of extended sequences and unbroken takes of young Jamie stumbling through a series of post invasion streets as he evades thieves his age and strives for aid in places he will not find it. In the background, things are blurred and the choice of angles at specific times are effective. Later on, things will appear to aesthetically 'normalise', as inceptions give way to a getting used to this newfound existence, it is through Americans Frank Demarest (Pantoliano) and John Malkovich's Basie; a seaman who lives out of a wrecked freighter in a harbour Jamie finds his feet.

When one thinks back to Spielberg's oeuvre, specifically from that of the 1980s, Empire of the Sun is not the film which immediately comes to mind, and that is a shame - although not as much as the fact that the likes of 1984's Temple of Doom might very well do instead. It slots into a canon of around the time, let's say beginning in 1982 with E.T. and ending with Hook in 1991, depicting children or even children being exposed to a rawer situation than what was already evident in their lives – when the movies Spielberg is churning out aren't made with a childlike enthusiasm, he seems to be able to get into the lives of minors and pull off the depicting of their plights; plights which carry that uneasy sense of both adventure and awe at their finding themselves in an unparallelled situation in a far off place, but fear of what is essentially the unknown. In Empire of the Sun, Spielberg veers off and away into a depiction of such things more inclined to being as good as his tale of a young boy coming into contact with an alien in E.T. than he does explore the freewheeling emotions of a young boy caught up in an adventure akin to Indiana Jones' in Temple of Doom, or indeed any of the child characters in the aforementioned Hook. It is a well played, meticulously unfolded piece clocking in at two hours but without a moment that either drags nor doesn't feels somewhat unsettling.

EPIC MASTERPIECE

[eric-shoe · 10/10 · 9 May 2020]

A BEAUTIFUL film in every sense of the word. The brutality of war is matched by the wit and wisdom of a 12 year old boy. Do not hesitate to emerge yourself in this Spielberg epic masterpiece.

A misfire....though a nice looking misfire.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 28 December 2011]

Like so many of Steven Spielberg's films, this one received a butt-load of Oscar nominations--but no wins ("Empire of the Sun" was nominated for six technical awards).

The movie begins with a VERY young Christian Bale playing a bratty and rather annoying child of British nationals living very well in war-torn China just before the British and Americans were pulled into this war. Like too many westerners, his family seemed to care very little about the war or the Chinese people so it feels a bit like karma when the war does come and the child is separated from his parents when Shanghai is invaded. For the rest of the film, the child grows up a scrounger--eking out a survival in a Japanese-run internment camp. Life is miserable and the film VERY episodic--as it jumps very quickly from December, 1941 to 1945--with nothing in-between.

While the film has many glowing reviews, I couldn't help but feel extremely disconnected from the movie. Part of it, as I mentioned above, is the episodic quality of the film. Part of it is because Christian Bale's character is amazingly tough to like. Initially, he's a really annoying kid. Later, he's not as bad but with the ENTIRE film resting on young Bale's shoulders, it just becomes tedious. In fact, this VERY slow pacing is the biggest problem with the film, as about 30 minutes could have been sliced out of it OR they could have developed more of the adult characters. Regardless, I really couldn't wait for this technically astounding but very dull film to end.

"Empire of the Sun"

[dee.reid · 10/10 · 31 January 2007]

Before he was chopping up prostitutes on Wall Street, Christian Bale was the boy standing on top of an air-traffic control tower, cheering as American bombers laid waste to the airstrip of the Japanese POW camp he was currently a resident of. As a pampered British boy named Jim "Jamie" Graham who is separated from his parents following the fall of Shanghai before American involvement in World War II, Bale is simply astounding. A young performer at 12, he is forced to grow up fast as a prisoner of the ruling Japanese forces, making friends wherever he can, including American Basie (John Malkovich), his pal Frank (Joe Pantoliano), and even the young Kamikaze pilot who lives in the barracks on the other side of the fence. "Empire of the Sun," an adaptation of the novel by J.G. Ballard, is often cited as one of director Steven Spielberg's weakest films, but I beg to differ. It is well known that he has a special place in his heart for WWII, and it's something he loves and loathes. It's a coming-of-age tale that really understands the grueling nature of the reality it depicts, and despite its "PG" rating, is still something for a mature audience. We're with Jamie the entire way, who is only 12, remember, yet he has already seen enough to last a lifetime. The only major gripe with this picture is its running time, and some scenes do tend to drag on for far too long, but that's only a minor grievance in a tale that is truly epic.

10/10

Absolutely Disappointed

[aaronlz119 · 6/10 · 7 July 2006]

I've watched many Steven Spielberg's Films,and I like his style,appreciate his attitude towards war and human nature,such as Saving Private Ryan,Munich,Schindler's List.

But,this film makes me absolutely disappointed.maybe you Americans consider it a classical work,but,you don't know how much pain we Chinese suffer in this war,which you will never understand.I don't know why Spielberg always uglify Chinese in this film.If it is a low taste film directed by a illiterate director,I won't care,and won't write such a comment not in my first language.But it's from Spielberg's hand,who always emphasizes equality and humanity.From the perspective of art,the description of the war between china and japan is too subjective,not objective at all,and leads to the failure.So,Spielberg's ignorance of China history become the biggest stain in this film.Maybe he just know something about Jews,but he know nothing about China.

Horrible movie with even worse playing of history

[milty908 · 1/10 · 13 February 2002]

Somehow, I don't understand why Spielberg chose to make this movie. It was essentially a prison camp movie but why set it in China? If it is in China, then why is it about white people? In the entire movie, the Japanese are glorified as a warrior nation, while the Chinese are portrayed as dirty people. If Spielberg wanted to make a prison camp movie, he should have just skipped to Schindler's List or make a movie about a REAL prison camp perhaps. It seemed like Spielberg simply wanted to make a movie in China, since he haven't done so before. But Spielberg decides to completely neglect the real victims in the war, the Chinese, and decide to make a movie about a tiny minority that was stupid enough to still pursue their imperialistic fortunes even at a time of war.

Some historical concerns. In the beginning of the movie, it states that China and Japan has been in 4 years of undeclared war already, therefore the starting scene was set in 1941. Shanghai fell in 1937. Also, Shanghai fell only after the largest battle of WW2, the Battle of Shanghai, and in the movie it seemed like the Japanese all of a sudden walked into the city and caught everyone by surprise. The Battle of Shanghai took 3 months! You would think people would know to get out of Shanghai by now, especially Westerners who had the means and a place to go, BACK HOME! Also, Shanghai was liberated by the Nationalist army, not by Americans, but whatever, its a Hollywood movie. This movie only had a couple historical mistakes because there was only a couple scenes of history in it! The prison camp could have been anywhere, anytime, any war, just change the subjugators. The scenary of the camp was also bland and generic enough to make you think it was filmed in Bakerfield. The generic camp also made the movie completely generic. All this makes you wonder, why China? If China, why this? It's not like the China war had much movies made about it. Spielberg could have made much better movies with China in WW2 as the background, such as something about the Nanking Massacre, or the Chinese defense against the Japanese, or even the American "flying tigers". Instead Spielberg chose the most unrealistic and obscure nook to make a grand epic about. Baffling. The movie itself was bland except for the boy, who made you wonder if he had gone crazy from the change around him. One minute he was a pampered kid from a western imperialist family, the next he was a refugee, although still better treated than the Chinese. Atleast he wasn't shot immediately on sight. Watching this movie makes me sad about how the world is treating the 2nd Sino-Japanese war from 1937-45 as a forgotten war.