A story about a young British boy who lived with his parents in Shanghai, China when the Japanese military occupied the country. (Shanghai itself had been occupied several years earlier but not the foreign quarters.) It’s a touching story — some of it is fiction and some based on real events — based on the novel Empire of the Sun by J.G. Ballard.

The main character, played by a 13 year old Christian Bale, is amazing, his character is 9-10 years old in the beginning of the movie. He is probably the best actor in the entire movie, and this movie wouldn’t have worked at all with any other actor. His acting at such a young age is reason enough to see this movie.

However I must say that this movie wasn’t as good as I expected, maybe a bit because I was expecting more from Spielberg (director). It’s slow, which I usually don’t mind that much, but I can’t figure out why I didn’t like it. Maybe I will give it another try at a later date – some movies needs to be viewed at least twice.