This story was captivating. I had never seen Empire of the Sun before, but I must say that it is an amazing film. This Spielberg classic was beautifully filmed and received a beautiful DVD release.

Synopsis

“Based on J.G. Ballard’s autobiographical novel, Empire of the Sun stars Christian Bale as a spoiled young British boy, living with his wealthy family in pre-World War II Shanghai. During the Japanese invasion, Bale is separated from his parents. With the help of soldier-of-fortune John Malkovich, Bale learns to survive without a retinue of servants at his beck and call. By the time Malkovich and Bale are tossed into a Japanese prison camp, the boy has picked up enough street-smarts and developed enough intestinal fortitude to regard his imprisonment as an exciting adventure. The story ends during the 1945 liberation: on the verge of manhood, the 13-year-old Bale will never again be the pampered, privileged brat whom we met in the early scenes.” – Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Audio

The audio was very good on this DVD. The center channel was extremely effective for speech, and there was great use of the surround speakers to convey the score. The soundstage was full, and the base was adequate. I think that the audio could not have sounded much better. Unfortunately, Warner Brothers did not include a commentary track on Empire of the Sun. It would have been amazing to hear Spielberg do a commentary for this amazing film.

Video

The video quality of this DVD has moments of brilliance, but also had moments of failure. Most of the film contains vibrant colors, sharp blacks, and a flawless transfer. On occasion, during some outside scenes, the colors melded together, creating a blurred image. Also, there are also moments of a hazy feel to the picture, but that is most likely due to print damage. The overall the picture looked great, especially presented in its 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen presentation.

Features

I have a new pet peeve with DVD releases… I HATE having to flip the DVD to access special features! If there is too much content on one side, then release the DVD as a 2-disc set. That way, you know that the special features have their own specific disc, instead of sitting down to enjoy the discs content (film and special features), and then having to get up to flip the disc. Call me lazy, but this is annoying. As you can figure, this disc needs to be flipped in order to access the special features.

The only real special feature, other than cast & crew bios, theatrical trailer and awards, is a full length behind-the-scenes documentary entitled “The China Odyssey: The Empire of the Sun, A Film by Steven Spielberg”. This making-of documentary is great. It is like watching a film about the film. This documentary covers the actors, the location, the history, and the story. We get to see the film being shot, and learn why it was shot as it was. If you are a student of film, you will really enjoy seeing Spielberg at work. This documentary even has its own scene index… great stuff.

The menus are pretty plain. They have full audio, but are still frames, and do not have animated page transitions. And as I said before, the disc is set up so that you have to flip it to access the special features… poor setup.

Closing Thoughts

If you like war films, buy this DVD. If you like Steven Spielberg films, buy this DVD. What the hell, everyone who likes quality filmmaking, video, audio, and special features should buy this DVD. You cannot ask for a better story, and the DVD release is very nice. You really should pick up a copy of Empire of the Sun!