**THE WACPINE OF ‘EMPIRE OF THE SUN’**

WRITING: 6
ATMOSPHERE: 6
CHARACTERS: 7
PRODUCTION: 8
INTRIGUE: 5
NOVELTY: 7
ENJOYMENT: 5

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**The Good:**

A 13-year-old (!) Christian Bale in his first starring role, and while I miss his mannerisms and the tough guy attitude of most of his later work, he's undeniably adorable, energetic and natural in this one.

John Malkovich is the second standout performance here, in a part that is sadly smaller than I'd expected.

This is one of John Williams' more anonymous and less recognizable film scores, and like the one he did for The Sugarland Express, it's refreshingly different from what he usually delivers. It also suits the wartime drama fairly well. The score is suitably dark and depressing, even paranoid and intense at times, expertly underlining the film's most intense moments.

I always find it great when film scripts and the direction manage to palpably depict the chaos, terror and uncertainty of war. Panicking parents, crying children, ruthless and fearless soldiers - it's all here.

Spielberg has always excelled at directing films where a child is a primary protagonist. Empire of the Sun is another one of those films; the director manages to bring forward a child's perspective on the war and tugs on our heartstrings by giving us a story at is not about a soldier's journey, but about a little boy's desperate attempt to survive hostile times.

Through the story of survival, of getting along in a hostile environment and of the strong emotions of being reunited with our family, Spielberg yet again delves deep into soulful symbolism, even if much of what he wants to say is buried along the way.

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**The Bad:**

Many scenes feel like filler; they depict the same chaos, fear or beauty as before without furthering the plot in any way. Some of these should have been left on the cutting room floor. The overall editing favours long sequences and that decision lengthens the film with an unnecessary 30 minutes

A general lack of a clear structure in the film script makes it somewhat difficult to enjoy what is going on at times since we don't know what the characters are trying to achieve and how the story is expected to end.

Sadly, the script doesn’t bother to develop or explore the characters there than Jim all that much. The Asian characters in particular feel underdeveloped.

The tempo is hopelessly slow and the tonal shifts are nonexistent. Spielberg isn't even trying to woo his audience and the resulting film is a very flat production, with emotional content that doesn't strike as hard as it should.

The promising beginning and the first twist in the story initially made me excited, building up a wartime adventure and story of survival. Alas, the script never gets there but remains ruck somewhere in the wilderness.

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**The Ugly:**

A testament to a director evolving: instead of closing their film with a sunset, they open it with one (I guess it's technically a rising sun, but whatever).

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**WACPINE RATING: 6.29 / 10 = 3 stars**