Movie Day: Emperor

The movie "Emperor", which opened this weekend, is misleading. From the title and the previews, it appears to be a movie about General Douglas MacArthur and his role as Supreme Commander in Japan after World War II.  And yes, MacArthur, played by Tommy Lee Jones, does appear in the movie as Supreme Commander and, yes, he does have to decide whether to prosecute Japanese Emperor Hirohito for war crimes.  But that whole aspect of the movie is really a subplot to the real story:  the hunt by a General Bonner Fellers, one of MacArthur's adjutants, to find his Japanese girl friend.  Most of the movie is shown in flashbacks of their pre-war romance.

As General Fellers, Matthew Fox, does an okay job as the obsessed general, but until the very end of the movie, he shows little passion. Jones, when on screen, chews up the scenery as only he can do. But, even there, we don't get a real sense of MacArthur and his own bombastic, ego-centric personality.

Don't get me wrong, it is not a bad picture. Shot in New Zealand and Japan, it has some remarkable scenes. I just think the movie should be promoted as a romance, love story and not a World War II movie. In addition, the whole romance angle was done so much better in the 1957 movie, "Sayonara," starring Marlon Brando.  See it on Netflix and let me know if you agree.