Empire of the Sun review

 Number 480 on the top 1000 films of all time is Steven Spielberg's epic coming-of-age drama 'Empire of the Sun.'

Jim Graham (Christian Bale) is a young, spoiled English boy living in 1940's Shanghai China. However, after the Japanese invade, he is separated from his parents and sent to an internment camp. There he has to rely on his wits, as well as his relationship with two American hustlers Basie (John Malkovich) and Frank (Joe Pantoliano) as well as his relationship with other prisoners like Dr Rawlins (Nigel Havers) or Mrs Victor (Miranda Richardson) to survive.

Famed film critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel gave a mixed review of the film deciding that despite its potential it seemed like a mishmash of different ideas that never gelled together. I would agree with this assessment. Empire of the Sun struck me as a film where despite having all of the necessary jigsaw puzzles was still unable to put them together in a satisfactory way.

And the film straddled too many genres without ever fitting into one. It's set during World War Two yet its PG-13 rating stopped it from really focussing on the true horrors of the war. Although it's a coming of age drama, Tim's transformation from a naive, pompous schoolboy into a streetwise hustler was largely glossed over. As such, these emotional beats didn't land.

It's a shame as, even though, Christian Bale was playing one of those annoying characters who fuelled the narrative with their own stupidity, he showed early promise of the Oscar-winning actor he would become. Considering this was only his second film role this is saying something. And considering he was acting alongside heavyweights like John Malkovich and Miranda Richardson, this was also saying something big. Not to mention, they played less than satisfactory characters who flitted in and out of the story.

Ultimately, I think this film was wasted potential. I'm always interesting in learning more about the Japanese side of the war, but this film left me cold.