Most overlooked Spielberg Movie

Rating: 7/10 (4 April 1999)

I had never heard of this film until a few months ago when everyone was talking about Saving Private Ryan. In one of the behind the scenes shows they showed, they said Spielberg made a lot of wwII movies, and they showed that clip of "Empire of the Sun" when Jim is jumping up and down and yelling "B-51 cadillac of the sky!!!" and I thought it was awesome. I decided to rent the movie and I just couldn't understand what made this movie so overlooked. I mean, it didn't even get nominated for best picture OR director. Even though lots of critics disliked it, they couldn't have helped but seen the start of Spielberg's emotional wwII movies. I mean, this movie has all the ingredients of a great emotional Spielberg movie:great script (which by the way was written by one of those involved in Shakespeare in Love...), great acting, "a little lost kid"(there was a lot of that in Schindler and also Upham in Private Ryan), and of course, the great John Williams score that always adds that extra emotion. I mean seriously, a lot of scenes in that movie were just John Williams moments...like the scene where Jim throw the plane back to the Japanese guy, and of course, the b-51 scene. If you're looking for an awesome drama, especially after seeing Saving Private Ryan, this is a good calmer wwII movie that still manages to make you feel like crap in a way(and Spielberg is now happy).