TOMMY LEE Jones, a recent Oscar nominee as fire-breathing abolitionist Thaddeus Stevens, in "Lincoln," returns to historical drama in "Emperor."
He breathes no fire, but he does smoke a pipe as legendary WWII general Douglas MacArthur, in charge of the occupying American army in post-war Japan.
This sounds like it should be great fun, for Jones fans and for WWII junkies, but there is really none to be had in the tepid "Emperor."
In fact, I think it's fair to say that Jones gives a better performance in in his Ameriprise financial commercials. And he's still better than miscast Matthew Fox (late of "Lost"), assigned to play brigadier general Bonner Sellers, the man assigned in the aftermath of Japan's surrender to investigate the emperor's potential culpability as a war criminal.
