A misfire....though a nice looking misfire.

Rating: 6/10 (28 December 2011)

Like so many of Steven Spielberg's films, this one received a butt-load of Oscar nominations--but no wins ("Empire of the Sun" was nominated for six technical awards).
The movie begins with a VERY young Christian Bale playing a bratty and rather annoying child of British nationals living very well in war-torn China just before the British and Americans were pulled into this war. Like too many westerners, his family seemed to care very little about the war or the Chinese people so it feels a bit like karma when the war does come and the child is separated from his parents when Shanghai is invaded. For the rest of the film, the child grows up a scrounger--eking out a survival in a Japanese-run internment camp. Life is miserable and the film VERY episodic--as it jumps very quickly from December, 1941 to 1945--with nothing in-between.
While the film has many glowing reviews, I couldn't help but feel extremely disconnected from the movie. Part of it, as I mentioned above, is the episodic quality of the film. Part of it is because Christian Bale's character is amazingly tough to like. Initially, he's a really annoying kid. Later, he's not as bad but with the ENTIRE film resting on young Bale's shoulders, it just becomes tedious. In fact, this VERY slow pacing is the biggest problem with the film, as about 30 minutes could have been sliced out of it OR they could have developed more of the adult characters. Regardless, I really couldn't wait for this technically astounding but very dull film to end.