Empire of the Sun

Spielberg can tell these stories like no-one else (in this case, so well that I'm surprised he wasn't awarded the golden statuette) and in an incredible way he was able to capture the atmosphere of the Second World War from a perspective I've probably never seen before. Christian Bale had already shown with his first role that great things could be expected of him, and in twenty years he’s managed to prove it, as evidenced by his current roles. Plus, John Malkovich and Joe Pantoliano make an excellent duo, and when Ben Stiller showed up I couldn't believe my eyes. It's quite fun to watch older movies with actors who were new stars at the time. (07/22/2008)

Confirmed: This movie moves me every time. My fascination with airplanes (the "Cadillac of the skies" scene always gives me the chills, and the imaginary air battle in the crashed plane is absolutely perfect) is certainly responsible for the tremendous experience that Empire of the Sun gives me every time.... etc.), but the biggest contributors are still Spielberg's precision, Williams' score and Bale and Malkovich. Few films are as suited to the adjective "beautiful" as this one. (03/14/2011)

An amazingly portrayed real story told from a child’s perspective, which is hurt a little by its excessive runtime and having too many endings. But every scene is so masterfully put together and each of those endings are so emotionally strong and semantically different (which is important), that there’s nothing to complain about. It should be swimming in Oscars, at least for he music and the cinematography. (01/17/2021)

An adaptation of the autobiographical book by J. G. Ballard was something I had been looking forward to for a long time. It has an interesting theme and a great cast (Christian Bale, Miranda Richardson, John Malkovich). Empire of the Sun may also remind us of The Lover by Marguerite Duras in its broad scope, but like other Spielberg retro films, I'm afraid it has become dated. This amounts to an interesting trip into the cinema of the 1980s. Young Bale was already incredibly talented back then, but for a deeper experience, you would need to see the film back then. (01/31/2020)

Steven Spielberg is not my favorite director and this movie didn't change that. I hadn't seen it before now. And I must appreciate how excellently they managed to capture the time period and setting. Spielberg has a gift for that, as well as for building a story. This time it's even darker than usual, but it still didn't captivate me. But Christian Bale already showcased his talents back then. (12/05/2015)