Review of Empire of the Sun (1987) by Tristan G — 22 May 2009

How Christian Bale wasn't more recognized for this film, I don't know. I'm sure his debut performance in Empire of the Sun led to further his now-booming career as a leading man in Hollywood, but even as a child actor he draws the viewer toward his character in a surprisingly monumental way.

Really, the cast overall is just great. John Malkovich plays his coolest character I've seen, with his cigarettes, and worn cap, grizzled features and soft tone. He's the perfect badass mentor. Even then-newcomer Stiller delivers on the few scenes he shows up in (apparently he came up with the basic concept for Tropic Thunder during the shooting of this).

That's the good part...the bad? Well, aside from the story arc of Jamie's (Bale) loss of innocence and childhood due to war, there isn't much to speak of. The characters shine here, but the plot and depth of introspection is sorely lacking in my opinion.

I love Spielberg, I wrote my senior paper on him. But the more I watch his films, the more I notice his crutches, or at the very least, his typical camera direction and pacing. There were over a dozen scenes in this that were entirely predictable as to how he chose to frame the characters and move the camera. I can't really say it bothered me, but I'm sure the more movies I watch, and the more work I see from truly original directors, the more rote and simple (dare I say boring?) some of Spielberg's decisions will seem to me.

This is actually a fairly difficult movie to review, as there are parts of it that really connected with me, while other sections of the film were nearly paint-by-the-numbers in quality. The supurb cast and soundtrack push it (barely) to a 4/5 rating. Recommended.