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All-Reviews.com Movie/Video Review
Empire
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 out of 4
Review by Susan Granger
1½ stars out of 4
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This urban gangster thriller is the first production from Arenas
Entertainment, a division of Universal Pictures aimed at a Latino audience. The
intention is admirable, but the execution is disappointing. And it's not the
fault of John Leguizamo plays Victor Rosa, a cocky South Bronx drug dealer who
pushes a powerful heroin mix called Empire. He's strutting after one last big
score so he can go legit. So, one night, when his girlfriend Carmen (Delilah
Cotto) takes him to a Manhattan party, hosted by a sleazy investment banker Jack
Wimmer (Peter Sarsgaard), Victor makes a connection. He and Jack form a fateful
partnership. Victor starts giving fast-talking Jack all his drug money and Jack,
in turn, pours the cash into high-return stock investments. Soon Victor is
hooked into the heady Wall Street world of high finance and moves with
now-pregnant Carmen into a SoHo loft. But when he abandons his turf in the
'hood, predictably, things go awry.
Problem is: first-time writer/director Franc. Reyes confuses narrative
with narration. Narrative is what propels a movie; narration is that voice-over
explanation that's used far too often here. And banal clichés are no substitute
for dialogue. On the other hand, Reyes has made some interesting casting
choices, including Isabella Rossellini as intimidating "La Columbiana" who heads
the Colombian drug cartel, Nestor Serrano as her hitman brother, Denise Richards
as Carmen's college chum, hip-hop star Treach as one of Vic's crew, rapper Fat
Joe as a rival street pusher with a Play Station-obsessed son, and Sonia Braga
as Carmen's mother. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Empire" is a
formulaic 4, asserting that there's little difference between common crooks and
cut-throat corporate businessmen in their greed for money.
Copyright © 2002 Susan Granger
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