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Spielberg has dreamed of flying before, and this time he earns his wings.
No special use is made of the talents of Miranda Richardson, Nigel Havers, Joe Pantoliano and the others, so it is up to young English thesp Bale to engage the viewer's interest, which he does superbly.
There are many glorious moments here.
Spielberg seems unable to come to terms with anything real.
The movie is always interesting from a narrative point of view. Spielberg is a good storyteller with a good tale to tell. But it never really adds up to anything.
Spielberg is a virtuoso performer, and virtuosity can't be dismissed. But what Empire of the Sun proves is that it can have its limitations.
Beautiful, but lacking WWII saga about a boy.
Spielberg...displays a progressive and sophisticated awareness of issues of class and race that may be viewed as an apology for the casual imperialist and racist assumptions of his Indiana Jones series.
Christian Bale, then 13, is a revelation as Jim, an obnoxious British colonial child being brought up in luxury in China.
One of Spielberg's best films, yet seldom shown.
Christian Bale's debut is a doozy.
One of Spielberg's most underestimated films, this survival saga of a boy separated from his parents in WWII Shanghai is necessarily episodic, but it's beautifully rendered, offering early evidence of the good actor Christian Bale would become.
Empire of the Sun is not as graphic as the hellish worlds of Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan, but Spielberg doesn't sugarcoat the horrors of war.
Spielberg includes a strand of populist heroism, yet even this fails to dent the awful message. And the budget makes itself seen, as does Bale's superlative Jim.
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