Emperor review

Tommy Lee Jones enlivens a dull historical drama

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The second movie this year (after The Wolverine ) to begin with an atomic strike on Japan, Peter Webber's post-WW2 yarn finds Tommy Lee Jones' General MacArthur in the horns of a dilemma. Should Emperor Hirohito hang for Pearl Harbor or be kept alive as the figurehead of an unoccupied puppet state?

It's left to Japan expert General Feller (Matthew Fox) to advise the best course of action, a mission complicated by his pre-war romance with an exotic teacher (Eriko Hatsune).

Neil Smith
Neil Smith
Freelance Writer

Neil Smith is a freelance film critic and writer who contributes regularly to Heat, SFX and Screen International. He's a long-time member of the London Film Critics’ Circle and was a contributing editor at Total Film for many years.