Empire? Which one?

Rating: Null/10 (9 February 2016)

Great Britain's "nickname" historically was the empire upon which the sun never sets. This was due to their far-reaching imperialist nature. The film even begins with a history lesson / scene setting exposition which illustrates how Shanghai was basically a British colony, indistinguishable from England in terms of its buildings and infrastructure. Hong Kong was still under British rule until the end of the last century.
So, when another reviewer, NeuroticMovieLover, describes this film as one showing the destruction caused by a nation that wanted to control everything, I must ask, which nation would THAT be? Fascism was rampant around the world, highly fashionable with those in power at that time. Business leaders in the United States bristled at the notion that Germany was not a trustworthy ally, even as they began to conquer Europe. It was only because American business interests were threatened by fascist expansion that the U.S. entered the war against the "Axis of evil". We were just the other side of the same imperialist coin. Our overlords were better at selling servitude as freedom than the SS, Mussolini's black shirts or the Hirohito cult of personality.
This film was very good at portraying people from every quarter as being as flawed as they were noble. This was not a movie condemning Japan as the bad guys.