Empire of the Emperor

Rating: 7/10 (12 September 2019)

Very few child actors can carry a movie. Giving it a quick gander I can think of McCauley Culkin in Home Alone and Haley Joel Osment in A.I. I'm sure there are others that I'm not thinking of right now but those come immediately to mind. Well, now I have to add Christian Bale. Of course, we know what a fine adult actor he turned out to be, but this movie was a sneak peak.
Jim (Christian Bale) was a fascinating character. He was raised as a wealthy white British kid in China. He enjoyed the luxuries of that station up until Japan attacked during WWII. Shortly after the Japanese attacked Jim was separated from his parents and then his exciting, arduous, harrowing, maturing journey began. For a privileged child he was incredibly resourceful.
The movie was light at times and heavy at other times. I don't it could avoid being heavy when it was about war. I can't pretend that I knew everything that was going on at all times (I honestly didn't know which soldiers were which at times). What little confusion there was could be shaken off by just focusing on Jim and his trials.
I went from watching The Last Emperor to watching Empire of the Sun in a few short days. These were two excellent movies about the turbulent relationship between China and Japan with two different focal points.
I think I've cracked the code. Put "Empire" or "Emperor" in the name of your movie. The Empire Strikes Back, Empire of the Sun, and The Last Emperor. Name your movie "Empire of the Emperor" and you have a hit.