Customer Rating: 
Summary: Empire of the Sun, a drama of a boy's survival in WW II
Comment: An excellent film that has been underrated in my opinion. Watching the young British boy mature amid the ravishes of World War II is a poignant experience. Stephen Spielberg expertly creates the era and the place and takes us into the heart of the boy Jim. This was Christian Bale's first movie. He was twelve or thirteen at the time and already had a strong enough screen presence to match John Malkovich scene for scene, and that's quite a feat. One caveat, Empire is not a movie for children even though it is about a child.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An outstanding achievement
Comment: As someone who dislikes Spielberg movies for their triteness and reliance on mind-numbing plots, I forewent seeing Empire of the Sun for years because I assumed it would be another "Schindler's List" or worse. In fact, Empire of the Sun is the only Spielberg movie I can wholeheartedly recommend. The cinematography, acting, script, and direction are all virtually flawless. Other reviewers have rightly lauded Christian Bale's astonishing performance, but it must be said that there isn't a weak moment in the entire movie.
Even for those familiar with Ballard's original work, from which the movie is taken, won't be disappointed. This is very much a must-see movie for anyone who cares about great film making.
Customer Rating:
Summary: EARLY CHRISTIAN BALE PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS THIS GOOD, BUT OVERLY LONG MOVIE!
Comment: Although I had heard of this film, I never watched it. It came on one of my HD channels this week and decided it was time to check it out. I didn't realize that Christian Bale was in this film and I believe his performance alone makes it worth seeing! Bale is captivating as a young boy separated from his rich parents in 1941 war time Japan. The film is well produced and the cast is excellent, but I did find some scenes to be a bit too long.
There is also some confusion, which only makes the film seem longer, an example is when Bale's character is hiding in his house for a period of time, they show the swimming pool water going from full to almost completely empty!?? This would take many years and it's obvious that it's not that long a time period. Was there a leak?? It's never explained. This is just one example of little inconsistencies like this. You never have a good sense of the time elapsing and in some cases,...what's going on. There is also a lot of Japanese Dialogue without sub-titles, this adds to the confusion and makes the film drag a bit.
It's a good film, but it's not perfect. Bale's terrific in this and he is truly gifted!
HAPPY 4TH OF JULY EVERYBODY!
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Moviie, Empire of the Sun,
Comment: This was a very difficult movie to understand. Have to watch carefully until the very end to realize what it's about.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent transfer to DVD
Comment: Great movie & fantastic transfer to DVD. The picture is sharp and clear and the colors are rich and accurate. The sound is also quite good. The widescreen format has been enhanced for large screen TVs, so the film fills most of the screen area. 'Empire of the Sun' looked quite good on my 46-inch LCD high definition TV, played on my Toshiba 1080p HD DVD player. Highly recommended film to watch again and again with the family.
Summary: Empire of the Sun, a drama of a boy's survival in WW II
Comment: An excellent film that has been underrated in my opinion. Watching the young British boy mature amid the ravishes of World War II is a poignant experience. Stephen Spielberg expertly creates the era and the place and takes us into the heart of the boy Jim. This was Christian Bale's first movie. He was twelve or thirteen at the time and already had a strong enough screen presence to match John Malkovich scene for scene, and that's quite a feat. One caveat, Empire is not a movie for children even though it is about a child.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An outstanding achievement
Comment: As someone who dislikes Spielberg movies for their triteness and reliance on mind-numbing plots, I forewent seeing Empire of the Sun for years because I assumed it would be another "Schindler's List" or worse. In fact, Empire of the Sun is the only Spielberg movie I can wholeheartedly recommend. The cinematography, acting, script, and direction are all virtually flawless. Other reviewers have rightly lauded Christian Bale's astonishing performance, but it must be said that there isn't a weak moment in the entire movie.
Even for those familiar with Ballard's original work, from which the movie is taken, won't be disappointed. This is very much a must-see movie for anyone who cares about great film making.
Customer Rating:
Summary: EARLY CHRISTIAN BALE PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS THIS GOOD, BUT OVERLY LONG MOVIE!
Comment: Although I had heard of this film, I never watched it. It came on one of my HD channels this week and decided it was time to check it out. I didn't realize that Christian Bale was in this film and I believe his performance alone makes it worth seeing! Bale is captivating as a young boy separated from his rich parents in 1941 war time Japan. The film is well produced and the cast is excellent, but I did find some scenes to be a bit too long.
There is also some confusion, which only makes the film seem longer, an example is when Bale's character is hiding in his house for a period of time, they show the swimming pool water going from full to almost completely empty!?? This would take many years and it's obvious that it's not that long a time period. Was there a leak?? It's never explained. This is just one example of little inconsistencies like this. You never have a good sense of the time elapsing and in some cases,...what's going on. There is also a lot of Japanese Dialogue without sub-titles, this adds to the confusion and makes the film drag a bit.
It's a good film, but it's not perfect. Bale's terrific in this and he is truly gifted!
HAPPY 4TH OF JULY EVERYBODY!
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Moviie, Empire of the Sun,
Comment: This was a very difficult movie to understand. Have to watch carefully until the very end to realize what it's about.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent transfer to DVD
Comment: Great movie & fantastic transfer to DVD. The picture is sharp and clear and the colors are rich and accurate. The sound is also quite good. The widescreen format has been enhanced for large screen TVs, so the film fills most of the screen area. 'Empire of the Sun' looked quite good on my 46-inch LCD high definition TV, played on my Toshiba 1080p HD DVD player. Highly recommended film to watch again and again with the family.