Spielberg's greatest achievement

Rating: Null/10 (10 October 2002)

I don't care what the reviewers had to say, nor that the movie was a serious commercial failure. "Empire Of The Sun" is a magnificent film, gorgeously photographed, beautifully scored, well acted and astoundingly directed. This heartbreaking story of a boy torn apart from everything he knows, and cast against a surreal backdrop of World War II China, was fascinating from the first frame to the last. The period detail is exquisite, the drama extremely moving. The film's final sections contain the best surrealism ever committed to celluloid, and Spielberg handles those sequences with the confidence and genius of a great conductor directing a symphony orchestra. See this movie at all costs.