Benefit
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2002
- Messages
- 5,193
Shanghai, 1941. 30,000 wealthy Americans and Europeans holed themselves up in a barb-wired enclave as the Japanese prepared to steamroll the South Pacific. Empire of the Sun is the story of a boy who comes into manhood during World War 2, as the Japanese roll through Shanghai gathering Western prisoners and shipping them to internment camps.
Christian Bale's performance won't floor you like Marlon Brando in Streetcar or Johnny Depp in every movie he's ever made, but by all established standards of child acting it is a remarkable performance. The emotion never seems forced and he plays every scene at just the right tone which is critical because the character goes through so many phases. Elite, snobby boyhood sensibilities give way to a numbed and desensitized teenager, but the change is believable and engaging, driven by Bale's internal characterization rather than just the external events of the plot.
It majestically filmed and beautifully scored (as if you would expect any less from Spielberg), and the pacing is very very good. I was afraid that it would be slow and plodding, with lots of self-indulgent cinematic masturbation but I felt like I was into it from beginning to end.
There is some halfway decent location shooting in Shanghai, which was important when the film was made in the 80s because China had just recently opened itself back up to US influence. The pre-invasion scenes are interesting, simply for the stark contrast between wealthy European elite and their Chinese servants.
The film isn't all that deep; it doesn't make you realize anything about human beings that you didn't already know. People are capable of extreme acts of depravity and selfishness when they are faced with extermination, and a sheltered aristocratic boy can lose his innocence in an internment camp. But even though the insights the film offers aren't groundbreaking, it delivers on all the levels (acting, writing, directing, cinematography) that make a film truly enjoyable.
Christian Bale's performance won't floor you like Marlon Brando in Streetcar or Johnny Depp in every movie he's ever made, but by all established standards of child acting it is a remarkable performance. The emotion never seems forced and he plays every scene at just the right tone which is critical because the character goes through so many phases. Elite, snobby boyhood sensibilities give way to a numbed and desensitized teenager, but the change is believable and engaging, driven by Bale's internal characterization rather than just the external events of the plot.
It majestically filmed and beautifully scored (as if you would expect any less from Spielberg), and the pacing is very very good. I was afraid that it would be slow and plodding, with lots of self-indulgent cinematic masturbation but I felt like I was into it from beginning to end.
There is some halfway decent location shooting in Shanghai, which was important when the film was made in the 80s because China had just recently opened itself back up to US influence. The pre-invasion scenes are interesting, simply for the stark contrast between wealthy European elite and their Chinese servants.
The film isn't all that deep; it doesn't make you realize anything about human beings that you didn't already know. People are capable of extreme acts of depravity and selfishness when they are faced with extermination, and a sheltered aristocratic boy can lose his innocence in an internment camp. But even though the insights the film offers aren't groundbreaking, it delivers on all the levels (acting, writing, directing, cinematography) that make a film truly enjoyable.
