There's some good and some bad about this movie...

Rating: 7/10 (1 March 2008)

Humm... this is a difficult to rate one. I'm not sure how should I rate it. It's a movie that creates mixed feelings on me. Although this is not bad for a war movie, I feel it could have been way better. I feel that the movie had potential to be solid, but ended up being only okay. But I don't want anybody to think I'm writing in Chinese, so let me explain my point.
The movie has an expressive story, a great soundtrack (for example, that beautiful "Suo Gan" theme), an amazing performance by a young Christian Bale, some of the most incredible scenes with planes ever put in a film (at least on this point it is perfect) and the movie is quite good during the first hour.
However, from the second half on, the movie begins to lose its initial greatness: it focus too much on the killing fields and the story (even the movie itself) loses its interest. There are still some wonderful scenes with planes in this second half of the movie and fabulous special effects (a visually stunning experience), but just that isn't enough to save it.
Christian Bale, like I said, is outstanding in this film. He portrays in perfection Jamie Graham, a very lively and talkative young English boy fascinated by planes (to the point of wishing to pilot one and even calling them «P-51, the Cadillac of the sky») and fan of the Japanese pilots's bravery.
Jamie is a likable chap. However, Dainty, Frank and Basie are quite annoying. Plus, the fact that Ben Stiller is in the movie already seals the movie's fate a bit (even if his role is minor). Ben Stiller is one of the most ridiculous actors of all times.
This isn't one of the most violent war movies, but still there are some brutal scenes, such as Jamie's Asian friend being unfairly killed.
So, a reasonable movie and decent Spielberg film. But not one of his best and not one of his worst by any means.