Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Movies I've Missed (Until Now): Empire of the Sun

We hadn’t seen a big, epic historical drama for a while, and this is one from the Eighties that we never watched. My fondness for war films is well-documented, too, so we gave EMPIRE OF THE SUN a try and I’m glad we did.

Based on an autobiographical novel by British SF author J.G. Ballard, the story centers around his childhood in Shanghai during World War II. The character, called James Graham in the film, is about twelve years old when the war begins and the Japanese attack and occupy Shanghai. Separated from his parents, young Jim is forced to survive in the devastated city on his own for a while until he falls in with some Americans who are somewhat shady characters. Eventually they’re all captured by the Japanese and forced to live in an internment camp for British and American prisoners until the end of the war.

Boiled down, that’s the plot of the movie, but it’s rich with characters and incidents that fill up its two-and-a-half-hour running time. There’s plenty of spectacle, as you’d expect in a film directed by Steven Spielberg, and yes, while some of it is a little hokey and overblown, it’s also pretty effective. When he tackles big historical dramas like this, Spielberg reminds me a little of David Lean (a director whose films I need to revisit someday soon).

A young Christian Bale plays Jim and does a good job. John Malkovich, eccentric as always, is the American who befriends him and saves his life more than once. The supporting cast is uniformly good, including one young Japanese actor who does a great job as a would-be pilot. (The internment camp is right next to a Japanese airfield, probably to discourage Allied attacks on the field, a strategy that doesn’t always work.)

EMPIRE OF THE SUN is an old-fashioned yarn that I enjoyed a lot. If you like historical dramas and/or war movies and haven’t ever seen it, you ought to check it out.

8 comments:

Chris said...

James, have you watched the John Woo movie Red Cliff yet? It just came out last year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Cliff_%28film%29

On DVD, either via purchase or NetFlix, there are two versions. The international version is in 2 parts and runs upwards of 5 hours. The one released to the USA was pared down to one 2 hour movie. I LOVED it, very epic (if you don't mind subtitles). I bought the international version for myself for my birthday but haven't watched it yet.

Richard R. said...

I watched this when it came out on VHS back when there was a $1 Video store next to the local supermarket. That location has long been a Starbucks. Anyway, I remember liking the film but not thinking it was anything special. Then again, that's pretty much what I thought of Titanic, and it was a huge hit. So what do I know?

James Reasoner said...

No, haven't seen RED CLIFF yet, but I want to watch it. I just can't decide which version.

James Reasoner said...

I'm not a big TITANIC fan. I liked this one better.

pattinase (abbott) said...

I remember like this a lot. I meant to watch Red Cliff when it was here. We had the long version at our film theater. Five hours kind of kept me away. On DVD, another story.

Richard R. said...

I don't do subtitles very well, so I avoid films in that format. I wind up reading the text at the bottom of the screen and I don't see the film. My wife will say "Wow, did you see that?" and I answer "See what? I was reading the text at the bottom of the screen!".

Lagomorph Rex said...

the two hour US cut of Redcliff is crap compared to the International one.. If you are going to watch the movie, just go ahead and watch the long one..just split it up over two nights or something.

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