Review of Empire of the Sun (1987) by Samuel J — 12 Sep 2013

"I want these back when they're done.".

Director: Steven Spielberg.

Starring: Christian Bale, John Malkovich, Miranda Richardson, Nigel Havers.

Running time: 154 minutes.

Country: USA.

This is a underrated film from Steven Spielberg. It is an epic war film with a lot of raw emotion, epic music, fantastic qualities of cinema. It was very emotional because obviously a war film but it was mostly the characters and what happened to them. This is a very inspiring film too because no matter how small or young you are, it is never too late to give up on hope. Also, when Jim is separated from his parents, he shows a huge sign of bravery by looking after himself and especially growing up without his parents in an unpleasant environment. It was bad luck to me that Jim was living in a camp in Shanghai and he is British. It felt like wrong place, wrong time and being enemy to the wrong people.

This is an extremely underrated child star performance from Christian Bale. I think that most people would remember him as Batman/Bruce Wayne and Patrick Bateman but this is a solid performance that in my opinion didn't get enough appreciation from critics just like Natalie Portman didn't in Léon neither. When I saw that Christian Bale was in this film especially when he was only 13 years old, I needed to see it as soon as possible. I needed to anyway because it's a Spielberg film. After seeing him in The Dark Knight, American Psycho, The Prestige and Batman Begins, I knew that it was him but couldn't believe it because he looks and sounds different. The only similarity is his mouth and the way he speaks. John Malkovich has always been good at playing that emotional and supporting character. Also, can be a really talented villainous actor when playing a villain. He makes me laugh always because of his facial expressions which are his best talent.

Steven Spielberg directs this film in such a great way. Spielberg has directed his epic films like David Lean did with a wide range of groups involving filmmaking. Empire Of The Sun introduced the epic style to Spielberg for him to make his best film Schindler's List. The way the script is written is unbelievable. It was very well done with a really good adapted script.

This isn't my favourite Christian Bale film but it is one of my favourite male child performances. It is a great Steven Spielberg film but doesn't beat Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, E.T., Indiana Jones 1 and 3, Jaws, The Terminal, Jurassic Park and Duel. The only thing that disappointed me was that it was too long. There could have been at least 10-20 minutes cut scenes or made scenes a bit shorter. Apart from that, it is a very good film.