Director Pete Webber takes this up dated story on the life of General Douglas MacArthur (Tommy Lee Jones) and attempts to weave two pertinent stories into one. The first is the enormous task of taking a virtually destroyed country like Japan and rebuild it with America's values and system of government. The second involves a staff officer in MacArthur's entourage, one, General Bonner Fellers( Matthew Fox) who takes to his given assignment with great vigor, all the while recalling his past involvement with a beautiful Japanese woman named Eriko Hatsune (Aya Shimada). The aid, (Fellers) on behalf of MacArtthur's instructions must seek to find solid proof of Emperor Hirohito's (Takatarô Kataoka) guilt in attacking the United States. Although the film is interesting enough and may fill in some historical facts, it drags it's feet trying to get to the point. Webber seeks to combine the final phase of the Japan/American war with a Romero and Juliet love story, it fails to live up to both. Indeed, with superior actor Tommy Lee Jones leading a solid cast, this reviewer can only compare it with Gregory Peak and found it lacking. See it and judge for yourself. ****
Review of Emperor
