Nothing very royal about 'Emperor' Jones

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.

In concept, the stakes are enormously high - a move to prosecute the emperor would probably tip the unstable country into civil/guerrilla war. An investigation that would absolve the emperor might make the politically ambitious MacArthur look weak.

Somehow, "Emperor" takes this intriguing premise and squanders it. Too much of the plot dallies on Sellers' unresolved feelings for his pre-war Japanese girlfriend (seen in flashbacks), and his off-the-books search for her in the bombed-out wreckage of the occupied nation.

Sellers' actual investigation - his interviews with surviving Japanese politicians and military leaders involved in the push for war - is a confusing array of poorly established names and faces. Intrigue among rival officers in MacArthur's command is also foggy.

Poor Fox simply doesn't have the gravitas for this role, and continues to struggle (see "Alex Cross") for the right movie role. On the big screen, he just looks lost.