A movie that swept me off my feet from its wonderful film-making, story, and performance by Christian Bale!

Rating: 10/10 (5 July 2008)

Steven Spielberg always had the power to sweep an audience into a movie's story and wonderful film-making talent. I had just seen "Empire of the Sun" and I have to say that it is one of his most underrated films. Like Schindler's List, Hook, and E.T., I was captivated by the film's look of an unforgettable time period, seen through the eyes of a young boy.
A very young Christian Bale plays a boy, Jamie Graham, who lives with his parents in China during the Second World War. As the Japanese invade, he and his family are forced to leave. However, they get separated and young Jamie is forced to survive on his own. He later befriends a couple of American merchants (John Malkovich and Joe Pantoliano). They later end up in a Japanese internment camp of where Jamie is put to the test to endure the horrors of war and hold onto his imagination and sanity.
The plot itself is remarkable, believable and highly emotional. There are many tear-jerking scenes, delivered wonderfully by John Williams moving score and Christian Bale's performance. How Bale didn't get an Oscar nomination is beyond me. The work of costume design, art direction, and cinematography is outstanding, probably making it hard for the Academy Awards to decide whether this or "The Last Emperor" deserved the Oscars.
"The Last Emperor" was the winner of those Awards and more in 1987 (in fact all its 6 nomination were given to The Last Emperor). I could understand that, since The Last Emperor was a biography drama of Emperor Pu Yi. It was a good movie, but not engaging. In addition, John Williams score was a triumph over Ryuichi Sakamoto's, Cong Su's, and David Bryne's score for The Last Emperor. The marvelous work of Michael Kahn's editing, and sound is also better than The Last Emperor's.
"Empire of the Sun" is an excellent film that swept me off my feet from its wonderful film-making, story, and performance by Christian Bale, which is all something beyond Bernardo Bertolucci's "The Last Emperor" capability. 10/10