Review of Empire of the Sun (1987) by Spangle — 10 Jul 2016
Lush and beautiful, Empire of the Sun is a very good coming of age film and tale on the loss of innocence during war times. With a fantastic performance from a young Christian Bale, the film also sports phenomenal cinematography and strong writing that really make for a solid film.
That said, the film is held back from being truly great by a few things. As the film is told from Bale's perspective and he is a child, obviously things can become unclear. In terms of a film, this can be a bit annoying as you feel as though you never really receive the film picture or scope of the proceedings.
Additionally, the film can be quite slow. I have no problem with slow films, but there were a few times of this 150 minute runtime that the film did drag. This happens enough to hamper the film a bit.
Fortunately though, Empire of the Sun is lovingly crafted and a thoroughly well made war film. Even if it does slack at times, it still more than accomplishes its goal and is a really moving look at WWII and is particularly compassionate towards the Japanese, which is a nice touch.
This review of Empire of the Sun (1987) was written by Spangle on 10 Jul 2016.
Empire of the Sun has generally received very positive reviews.
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