Emperor

War aficionados and history buffs will get more out of watching Emperor than anyone else.

They’re the folks who will most appreciate the crusty performance of Tommy Lee Jones as Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who unfortunately is relegated to supporting status in this uneven true-life drama about an American general forced to play mediator between United States and Japanese forces at the end of World War II.

The story takes place in the days following the Japanese surrender in 1945, when MacArthur was the Supreme Commander of the occupying forces. He dispatches Bonner Fellers (Matthew Fox), a young general with expertise in Japanese affairs, to help determine whether Emperor Hirohito should be charged with war crimes for initiating the attack on Pearl Harbor.

So Fellers begins questioning those with knowledge of the emperor’s affairs while trying to arrange a meeting with Hirohito himself. Along the way, he flashes back to a relationship with a Japanese exchange student (Eriko Hatsune) years earlier that helps to shape his investigation.

The film, directed by Peter Webber (Hannibal Rising) features an earnest re-creation of the period (it was shot mostly in New Zealand), along with some contemporary resonance in the morally complex collision between politics and justice, and how one influences the other when individual agendas clash with military objectives.

Jones livens the proceedings whenever he appears as MacArthur, who at the time was fulfilling one of the final assignments of his checkered military career. It’s interesting to compare his portrayal to others on the big screen, such as those of Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier, among others.

Instead, the bulk of the film focuses on Fellers, whose heavy-handed narration drags the film down along with his blank personality and melodramatic romance subplot.

Although it takes dramatic liberties, the film makes an effort to salute diplomacy and is more noteworthy for its broad historical perspective than for its quiet, character-driven moments. The best sequences have both sides matching wits during tense interrogations.

Emperor, which is based on a book by Shiro Okamoto, contains some potentially intriguing subject matter compromised by a formulaic approach that renders the periphery characters more compelling than the central ones.

Rated PG-13, 98 minutes.