'Emperor' Movie Review Roundup: Mixed Reviews For Tommy Lee Jones Starrer

By Francisco Salazar (staff@latinospost.com) | First Posted: Mar 07, 2013 10:24 AM EST

Roadside Attractions will release the new film "Emperor" on March 8^th.

The film, starring academy Award winner Tommy Lee Jones and Matthew Fox, tells the story of the Japanese surrender at the end of WWII. It follows General Fellers' task of deciding if Emperor Hirohito will be hanged as a war criminal.

The film has received mixed reviews with a 54 percent aggregate score on Rotten Tomatoes. Village Voice stated that "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."

Slant also criticized the picture stating "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."

However the Momentum Xpress was very enthusiastic with the film calling it "The first release of 2013 I'd put on the must-see list."

The New York Observer was also favorable and stated "Call it old-fashioned filmmaking, but you learn a lot and come away feeling an impact all too rare in movies today."

We Got it Covered praised Jones stating "Emperor doesn't rule with an iron fist, but Tommy Lee Jones is just too entertaining to ignore - even if he barely changed his persona to play General MacArthur."

Jones last starred in Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He also starred in "Hope Springs" alongside Meryl Streep. The thespian will next be seen in "Malavita" with Robert De Niro, and Michelle Pfeiffer and will direct his next film "The Homesman" with Streep and Hilary Swank.

Fox last starred in "Alex Cross" with Tyler Perry and will next be seen in the highly anticipated "World War Z" with Brad Pitt.

"Emperor" was directed by Peter Webber (Girl with the Pearl Earring) and also stars Aaron Jackson, Eriko Hatsune, and Kaori Momoi. The film will be released in 253 theaters.