: (John Williams) So much
potential went unrealized in Steven Spielberg's 1987 World War II film
that J.G. Ballard's autobiographical story
largely wasted its chance to make a significant impact as a whole on
audiences. Like all of Spielberg's films, there are moments of
brilliance in his grasp of psychological perspective, and in
, these highlights come early. A young British boy (played
by newcomer Christian Bale on his way to a career of stardom) lives a
life of privilege in Shanghai with other Westerners just prior to the
Japanese invasion at the war's start, and in one of the director's most
compelling and frightening scenes (once again dwelling upon child and
parent separation issues, major hang-up for Spielberg throughout his
career), he is separated from his family inside a mob of frantic
evacuees. From there, the boy ends up in an internment camp for
foreigners, learning all the methods of stealing and scamming his way to
likeability and survival. The key to his positive mental outlook is his
fascination with the sky and airplanes, fantasizing about aircraft
battles and maintaining good knowledge of the vehicles. The story lives
through his imagination, which is both an appealing element and,
unfortunately, the film's downfall.
went on to
several academy award nominations, all in technical fields, and the
reason it did not attract better accolades or particularly strong
reviews at the time was due to Spielberg's inability to reconcile the
imaginative side of the plot with the necessary horrors of war depicted
throughout. Because Spielberg presents the boy's life in a series of
episodic scenes,
loses its sense of direction
and ultimately concludes without having delivered a clear, consolidated
message. This fault is unquestionably reflected in John Williams' music
for the film, continuing a fruitful collaboration that occasionally
suffered minor hiccups. While veteran collectors of Williams' scores
stand by
without fail, some even proclaiming
its greatness, the fact remains that it suffers from the same split
personality as the film. More intriguing is the fact that Williams'
music for the project suffered from the whims of the director during the
editing process, representing one of the only major times when the
composer clearly did not see the same larger picture as the director in
their lengthy collaboration.
There are enthusiasts of the film who claim that the
dialing out or rearrangement of Williams' score, sometimes to a
significant degree, is of benefit to the film. While a case could be
made advocating the long sequences of
Empire of the Sun without
any music whatsoever, Williams' contributions simply removed, a full
examination of the score as intended reveals that the composer had
pretty good idea of what he was trying to do, regardless of Spielberg's
alternate vision. The quality of the composition aside, it is a score of
two incompatible halves, contributing to the awkward imbalance of
fantasy and reality in the harrowing circumstances on screen. On one
hand, you hear the jubilant, celebratory music of both the boy's
imagination and his eventual liberation (known best in its concert
arrangement, "Exsultate Justi"). On the other is the grim, deeply
disturbed ambient material for the actual depictions of wartime
hardship. Alone, either half of the score for
Empire of the Sun
would be effective, but together they especially produce an awkward
album experience. It was Williams' intention to score the movie strictly
from the perspective of the child's mind, explaining some of the use of
classical and traditional music, as well as his somewhat alienated
relationship to his parents. But the exuberant side of the score, an
offshoot of the boy's hopeless optimism about certain subjects like the
airplanes, can be received as representing too much detachment and false
hope. The light half of
Empire of the Sun ranges from the
effortless fun of the frolicking primary theme in "Jim's New Life" to
wondrous full ensemble harmony representing the airplanes in "The Plane"
and "Cadillac of the Skies." In both "Imaginary Air Battle" and
"Liberation: Exsultate Justi," Williams explores lovely variations on
this material, foreshadowing the warmth and sense of freedom that both
Home Alone and
Hook would more exhibit to much greater
degrees shortly thereafter. The addition of a choir to Williams'
standard orchestral tones was something relatively new in 1987, though
the technique is as much a highlight here as it would be in
Hook
and several other later works. The choral concert arrangement of the
primary theme (in Latin), "Exsultate Justi," is by far the most famous
piece remembered from the original score, though like the similar
application of the primary vocalized themes in
Saving Private
Ryan and
Amistad, this recording is not particularly
representative of the remainder of the score.
In fact,
Empire of the Sun is dominated in its
running time by its frightfully darker half, arguably more interesting
music that may or may not translate to an engaging listening experience
depending on your opinion of Williams' suspense and horror material. In
the most turbulent portions, the instrumentation and tone of
JFK
and
Jurassic Park is hinted, "The Streets of Shanghai" strongly
suggestive of the latter. The anguish of "Lost in the Crowd" causes
emotional responses similar to equally troubled parts of
A.I.
Artificial Intelligence. The lengthy "The Return to the City"
rumbles with a rhythmic bass horn figure reminiscent of Christopher
Young's material from the era. Like the equally long "No Road
Home/Seeing the Bomb," this cue is ultimately atmospheric; with whining
string effects, lonely shakuhachi flute, faint reminders of a classical
existence on piano, and disembodied chorus, these cues maintain a sense
of wonderment, though in a distinctly oppressed atmosphere. Many of the
score's early family cues are similarly detached in their cooing choral
tones, some of which minimized in its impact on the film. Existing by
itself is the four minute "The Pheasant Hunt," a straight precursor to
the jungle-like suspense material of sparse construct in
Jurassic
Park and a cue that all but kills the score's flow on album. When
you add the movie's source inclusions, themselves disparate in style and
breaking up the continuity of Williams' original contributions,
Empire of the Sun is a difficult soundtrack album at best. Of
particular importance is the "Suo Gan" traditional Welch song that is
performed on screen and serves as the boy's own voice several time in
the picture, in some ways overshadowing Williams' own music. The
original 1987 Warner album for
Empire of the Sun featured a
typical LP-inspired arrangement of highlights of the score out of
chronological order. A 2014 expanded and limited La-La Lands set,
however, restored Williams' score to its original length and order,
providing not only the properly timed versions of "Suo Gan" and
"Exsultate Justi" for their screen edits but also supplementing the
classical pieces with numerous alternate takes of Williams' score. There
is much to appreciate in the score, though like the film, there is
general lack of overarching direction that forces the music to react
without consistent references to a memorable core of ideas. As such,
Empire of the Sun is the kind of Williams music that is easy to
recommend, but it's not a source of easy listening on album to revisit
in its entirety too often, the ten minutes of enthusiastic, imaginative
portions a clear exception for suite rearrangement.
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For John Williams reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.68
(in 91 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.54
(in 363,495 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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