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).

Fun when Jones is around, dull when he's not, it's all just a little bit of history repeating.

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Freelance Writer

Neil Smith is a freelance film critic who has written for several publications, including Total Film. His bylines can be found at the BBC, Film 4 Independent, Uncut Magazine, SFX Magazine, Heat Magazine, Popcorn, and more.