The Underrated Tommy Lee Jones and Matthew Fox WWII Drama You Can Stream Free Right Now

Tommy Lee Jones isn’t exactly a stranger to historical drama, but one of his more overlooked films, 'Emperor', has popped up on streaming—and you can actually watch it for free now if you fancy revisiting a rather odd entry in his filmography.

What’s the deal with 'Emperor'?

Right, so 'Emperor' is a war drama from 2012 where Tommy Lee Jones dons the hat (and let’s be honest, the scowl) of General Douglas MacArthur. The film drops us at the end of World War II in Japan, where MacArthur is staring down the unenviable task of deciding what on earth to do with Emperor Hirohito—whether the infamous monarch should be hanged as a war criminal or not. The catch? He’s leaning heavily on a subordinate, one General Bonner Fellers (Matthew Fox), to sort out the whole mess – while Fellers is simultaneously getting sidetracked on his own slightly soapier mission to locate Aya, a Japanese woman he met before the war.

'As the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II, General Fellers is tasked with deciding if Emperor Hirohito will be hanged as a war criminal. Influencing his ruling is his quest to find Aya, an exchange student he met years earlier in the U.S.'

How can you actually watch it?

If you’re curious and haven’t already been scared off by those brutal reviews, you can check the whole thing out for free on the official Lionsgate Movies YouTube channel. Not exactly a streaming giant, but it does the job if you want to see how Jones handles MacArthur’s legendary pipe (or just enjoy some decent 1940s uniforms).

Critical reception (brace yourself)

Reviews were, let’s say, less than kind. On Rotten Tomatoes, 'Emperor' holds a miserable 31% approval from critics, which is genuinely low even for this sort of slightly niche war film. The audience score is only a shade healthier at 46%, so if you’re hoping everyone else missed some secret masterpiece, the numbers don’t really back that up.

The cast and crew at a glance

• Tommy Lee Jones as General Douglas MacArthur
• Matthew Fox gets top billing as General Bonner Fellers
• Eriko Hatsune plays Aya Shimada (that’s the romantic thread)
• Masayoshi Haneda as Takahashi
• Masatoshi Nakamura as Prince Konoe
• Takataro Kataoka appears as Emperor Hirohito himself
• Isao Natsuyagi as Teizaburō Sekiya

The whole thing was steered by director Peter Webber (who you might remember from 'Girl with a Pearl Earring'), with a script by Vera Blasi and David Klass. It’s based on the novel 'His Majesty's Salvation' by Shiro Okamoto. And just for completeness, here’s a quick rundown of the behind-the-scenes names: Gary Foster, Russ Krasnoff, Yôko Narahashi, and Eugene Nomura produced, Stuart Dryburgh did the cinematography, Chris Plummer handled the editing, Alex Heffes did the score, Grant Major designed the sets, and Ngila Dickson sorted out the costumes.

Strange as it is to say for a film with a pedigree like that—Oscar winners, an epic historical subject, the whole lot—it really did land with a bit of a thud first time round. But if you’re in the mood for something a little out of left field, or just want to see Tommy Lee Jones grumble his way through 1940s Japan, now’s your chance.