Emperor
Lionsgate | Release Date: March 8, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
48
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
19
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMar 7, 2013
In the end, probably the best way to watch Emperor is to pretend that the Supreme Command of Allied Forces in Japan after World War II was Tommy Lee Jones. If you do that, the movie works surprisingly well. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMar 6, 2013
As is the case with most of the elements in Emperor, the cliches are relatively few and spaced apart, and the tearjerking and profound moments are authentic and well-earned. Read full review
75
ObserverRex ReedMar 6, 2013
The real star of the film is the magnetic, forceful and charismatic Matthew Fox, who steals the entire film as easily as if he were pitching a softball. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleLouis BlackMar 6, 2013
The film bites off much more than it can chew, raising far more issues and personalities than it can successfully weave into one overall narrative. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanMar 6, 2013
Emperor explores the delicate postwar dance of revenge, justice, and realpolitik, yet its focus on the issue of Hirohito's guilt or innocence (did he order the attack on Pearl Harbor? Or did he, in fact, oppose the Japanese military machine?) Read full review
67
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallMar 6, 2013
Emperor is also one of those movies in which the most intriguing occurrences are revealed by "what-happened-to . . ." title cards at the finale. Read full review
63
Washington PostMark JenkinsMar 8, 2013
This drama is serious and well made but will appeal primarily to those with an interest in the devastated setting (1945 Tokyo) and the enigmatic title character (Emperor Hirohito). Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia PuigMar 8, 2013
Some of the film's most illuminating scenes involve Aya's uncle, General Kajima (Toshiyuki Nishida), who schools Fellers on the sense of duty that is ingrained in Japanese culture. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsMar 7, 2013
This true-ish story adds a romantic subplot to the prosecution of Japanese war criminals by American general Douglas MacArthur, but neither the love nor the war are completely baked. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter TraversMar 7, 2013
Only near the end, when MacArthur and Hirohito meet in person, do we get fireworks. And that's thanks to Jones, who makes sure this old soldier will never die in our memory. As for this tepid movie, it just fades away. Read full review
63
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreMar 4, 2013
Tommy Lee Jones gives us a saltier version of MacArthur than the image-conscious general ever let on to. Read full review
60
Total FilmNeil SmithOct 7, 2013
Fun when Jones is around, dull when he's not, it's all just a little bit of history repeating. Read full review
60
Time Out LondonTrevor JohnstonOct 1, 2013
It’s all done with care and authentic Japanese locations, and is engrossing for anyone with an interest in the subject. But there’s scant drama as proceedings plod their way towards mutual understanding. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMar 7, 2013
There’s far too little of MacArthur’s strutting on display. Granted, that’s not the movie Webber was making. But you kind of wish it was. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubMike D AngeloMar 13, 2013
Since Hirohito remained in ceremonial power until his death in 1989, there’s no suspense about the outcome. Instead, the film offers a labored treatise on the Japanese national character, with endless speeches about honor, devotion, loyalty, and the people’s reverence for their emperor as a human deity. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyMar 28, 2013
Aside from Jones’s broadly entertaining performance as the egotistical Supreme Commander, the movie, directed by Peter Webber (The Girl with the Pearl Earring), is a dud. Read full review
50
New York PostLou LumenickMar 7, 2013
“Let’s show ’em some good old-fashioned American swagger,’’ MacArthur says on his arrival in Tokyo. It’s too bad director Webber and the screenwriters, David Klass and Vera Blasi, didn’t take his advice to heart instead of largely wasting Jones and some very nice period details. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyMar 7, 2013
When MacArthur stands side by side with Hirohito (Takatarô Kataoka), it’s the ultimate in victor-vanquished encounters. That’s also true whenever Jones shares a scene with Fox. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMar 7, 2013
This one's likely to vex both history buffs and those who require some drama with their drama. Read full review
50
Film.comStephanie ZacharekMar 6, 2013
Emperor may not be the most dazzling of history lessons, but it never treats the past as a dusty, deserted place. Read full review
50
The PlaylistKevin JagernauthMar 5, 2013
The movie is never without forward momentum, it's just too bad when just when it's ready to go to interesting places, we jump back to Bonner and Aya's pedestrian romance. Read full review
42
Portland OregonianMarc MohanMar 7, 2013
It's almost too bad, then, that MacArthur and Jones take a back seat to the far less interesting Gen. Bonner Fellers in the stolid drama Emperor. Read full review
40
The GuardianMark KermodeOct 7, 2013
Thank heaven for Jones's reliable grouchiness, his bloodhound eyes, high-belted paunch, and deader-than-deadpan drawl offering welcome relief from the historical schmaltz. Read full review
40
EmpireIan NathanSep 30, 2013
Good intentions, vivid setting and TLJ on top form do not make up for a lack of anything truly compelling. Read full review
40
VarietyPeter DebrugeMar 8, 2013
Emperor’s bloodless presentation fails on a fundamental dramatic level, playing like the fancy version of a junior-high educational filmstrip, down to the false suspense of Alex Heffes’ corny ticking-clock score. Read full review
40
NPRJoel ArnoldMar 8, 2013
So it seems like the next logical step in telling a story with a relationship to truth might be that if you're going to fudge things, at least make it entertaining. Please, pull an "Argo." Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyMar 7, 2013
The war crimes and romance stories theoretically run on parallel tracks, but the overall pacing is ragged and the dialogue frequently out of step with the characters we've met. Read full review
40
The New York TimesStephen HoldenMar 7, 2013
Mr. Jones’s performance is the only spark within this otherwise dull, well-mannered exercise. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierMar 7, 2013
Director Peter Webber (“Girl With a Pearl Earring”) fills the film with conciliatory emotion and jarring vistas of post-atomic landscapes. Unfortunately, Emperor needs more good ol’-fashioned swagger. Read full review
40
Time OutJoshua RothkopfMar 5, 2013
Director Peter Webber, who once mined social unease from the painterly "Girl with a Pearl Earring," is out of his depth; this is a movie in desperate need of a no-nonsense Howard Hawks. Read full review
30
Village VoiceNick SchagerMar 5, 2013
Given its true-life basis, the story is already devoid of suspense regarding Hirohito’s ultimate fate, and Fellers’s inquiry is made more sluggish by dramatically inert conversations with Japanese officials. Read full review
25
Slant MagazineEsther YiMar 2, 2013
Peter Webber's historical drama is blunt about its stylistic ambitions while at the same time failing to meet them, and the effect is one of sad ineffectuality. Read full review
20
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottMar 8, 2013
There's really nothing definitive about Emperor. Or memorable, for that matter. Read full review
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