Empire of the Sun DVD Review

"EMPIRE OF THE SUN" reviews

DVD

EMPIRE OF THE SUN

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2006-03-03 16:33:22

Provider

DVD Review

Christian Bale's recent performance in Batman Begins was wickedly superb and went a long way to fulfilling the great promise he first appeared on the big screen in this WW2 drama from 1987.

Steven Spielberg's epic tale is based on JG Ballard's book and follows the trials of a young English boy, Jim (Bale), separated from his parents when the Japanese invade their Shanghai residence. Luckily, he's taken under the wing of loveable rogue Basie (John Malkovich) and together they try to survive the war through the omnipresent stench of prison camps, destruction and death.

Empire Of The Sun is blessed with wonderful performances and memorable individual scenes. Though from the canon of Spielberg, it epitomises the best of Merchant Ivory and David Lean's period work that largely preceeded it. At times the film does seem to lack that bit of extra meat as the plot can be prone to aimless drifting - not ulike Ballard's original wrok and style. However, it remains disturbingly convincing until the end. A young pensive Bale steals the show and, on this kind of form, deserved to reach A-list status much earlier.

This special two disc edition comes replete with a new 45 minute behind-the-scenes Spielberg documentary entitled The China Odyssey: Empire of the Sun.