Empire - Thoughts and Reviews

[dh1989]

http://us.ent4.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/universal_pictures/empire/john_leguizamo/empire2.jpg

Plot- Victor Rosa (John Leguizamo) is all about the mighty dollar and fashions himself as a businessman on par with Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Bill Gates. With an iron fist, he runs a successful "street pharmaceutical" business that peddles a heroin mix he has named Empire. His beautiful fiancée, Carmen, a Baruch College student, befriends a classmate with an investment-banker boyfriend, Jack Wimmer. Victor meets Jack, and they instantly connect. Both are hard-core businessmen from two different sides of the legal fence. When Jack offers Victor a piece of the action on the stock market, he sees his ticket out of the violent streets of the South Bronx and jumps at the opportunity. But there is a bigger price to be paid than clean money for his gorgeous new Soho lifestyle. For the first time, Victor is confronted with a price tag that he will find difficult to pay.

Rating- R for strong violence, pervasive language, drug content and some sexuality.

Running Time- 95 Minutes

Distributor- Arenas Entertainment(a subsidary of Universal Studios catering to Latin-Americans)

This film, in my opinion, is a wildcard. It may be an interesting and exciting film, but it also could turn out to be a crapfest. John Leguizamo is sometimes a likable star. I will see this film, but I am not sure it will be a fun experience, but it may be. What do you schmoes think?

Trailer: http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&id=1807792275&cf=trailer

http://us.ent4.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/universal_pictures/empire/john_leguizamo/empire.jpg

[Mike]

I'm not interested in this one. I've seen a couple of TV spots for it and I don't think it will be very good, it's just not my thing. I'm sure fans of these kinds of movies will probably like it but I highly doubt I would. Denise Richards is hot though :)...

[idealdiscountdude]

I saw the trailer for Empire before 8 Mile a few weeks back and it looks...well......both good and bad.

John Leguizamo looks to give a good performance judging from the trailers and the film does have an intriguing although cliched premise. On the otherhand it also stars that godawful, big eyed, lump of a so-called actress Denise Richards who could butcher the art of mastering flatulence if it were in the script.

I would definetly NOT see this in the cinemas....possibly on video though.....

Denise Richards is enough for me NOT to see it in cinemas......

[idealdiscountdude]

Here is the Empire poster:

http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/custom/38/10002038.jpg

[uncle_el]

i definitely want to see this film. the premise is very intriguing. john leguizamo is always interesting.
however, as has been said before denise richards is in it- when i saw the trailer, i thought, ok, looks good, and then i recognized her... hopefully she won't kill the movie.
rappers (treach and fat joe) in bit parts- not quite sure what to think of that... eve was good in "barbershop", but horrible in "xxx", and dmx was ok in "exit wounds" and good in "belly". as long as they're not too integral to the movie, they'll probably do ok.
the movie definitely looks interesting and intriguing, but i'm not sure that the general movie going audience will agree. it will probably be one of those films that is decent, but just doesn't have good box office numbers.

[Mike]

http://www.ciudadfutura.com/elcriticon/denric11.jpg

If I ever sat through this movie SHE would be the ONLY reason... She may not be the best actress, but she sure is HOT... Her and Neve Campbell were great in WILD THINGS...

[TheMovieMinor]

These drug movies are already enough. Why do we want to see a movie and root for the druggies. I don't know, but those big guys shooting the shot gun in there couch, you can already tell they will get blown away in the film.
It was on my list to see, but I think I will wait for TV, ehh, by then, I will completely forget about the film. So Nevermind then.

[sunshine327]

I will definitely go see this movie! Only because John Leguizamo is such an amazing actor and he is finally getting a chance to be a leading man in a film where he's not playing a clown, a video game character, or some other off-the-wall crazy character. I think his skills are amazing (check out Son of Sam) and I will support anything he does. It may not be a great movie, or the most original plot, but if John saw something in it... that's all I need to go see it.

[thompsoncory]

I think that this movie looks really stupid, and do not have any plans on seeing it. It will probably flop, for anyone who cares.

$4 million/$10 million (this is the most I can see it making).

[sunshine327]

This movie may not have huge box-office turn out... but don't underestimate the buying power of the growing Latino community. They may turn out in huge numbers to see this movie, we wont know until it comes out...

And to The Movie Minor.. we root for druggies the same we rooted for the gangsters in Goodfellas, Godfather etc... it doesent make the film any less excellent because the characters are not saints.

[EldridgeSolid]

I'm tempted to check this one out. But I might wait til it comes out on video.

As for rappers in movies... well it's going to happen. Get used to it. I disagree w/ the guy who said that Eve was bad in XXX. She had maybe 3 lines. She was insignificant, but I guess extras can be bad too... ;)

[XCoRyX]

i agree this one is a wildcard indeed,if i may take a word or 2 from my fellow schmoes.It looks like it will definetly be urban thugged theme,which isnt a favorite thing for me,although if the movie is good enough and has enough action i can definetly sit through it.richards does look hot,dont have a problem with her,leguizamo looks awesome in this,and i am likely to check this out in theaters in maybe a week after its release....i still have other films to catch up to.

[Jerk Shapiro]

This movie looks pathetic...I can't see a movie with this line in it:

"GO BACK TO YOUR GHETTO!"

Ugh!

[Puck Bond]

Empire is a surprsingly decent drug, gangster film with a pretty good performance by John Leguizamo. He plays Victor Rosa a major drug dealer in the South Bronx along with 3 other dealers who all deal various forms of cocaine(his is called "Empire") for the local drug queen "La Columbiana" played by Isabella Rosselini. He is a major force in the drug world, but Vic wants something more...to leave his neighborhood for a better, safer life. He has a young, pregnant, girlfriend Carmen played by Delilah Cotto, whose mother disapproves of his lifestyle. Carmen's friend Trish played by Denise Richards introduces Vic to her white boyfriend Jack played by Peter Sarsgaard, who is a young, hot, wealthy investment banker on Wall Street. He takes Vic in, seeing that he has an eye for business, Vic's is drugs and Jack's is investment banking...in the cutthroat world where money is everything whats the difference. Slowly Victor starts to become immersed in the high-life, living in a better apartment, nicer neighborhood, and making a lot more money...but this alienates his girlfriend Carmen, his old friends "his crew"-Jimmy, Chedda and Jay, who now run Vic's old neighborhood. Victor loses touch with where he comes from, and ultimately pays a big price for it. Beyond that it would give away major surprises...but I was surprised that I enjoyed this film. I really wasn't expecting that much going in, except just drug dealer/gangster cliches, maybe some cool gun play and the derivative ghetto soundtrack. There are certainly those elements in this film...but it feels a lot more real and grittier, instead of the glorified version I was expecting. As I said earlier John Leguizamo is really very good in this calling himself..."young, latin and good-looking". Overall, Empire surprised me with its depiction of a young hot-shot drug dealer trying to leave his lifestyle for a better one...featuing a decent cast and a nice performance by Leguizamo.

[XCoRyX]

Originally posted by MOVIE-Maniac 8
This movie looks pathetic...I can't see a movie with this line in it:

"GO BACK TO YOUR GHETTO!"

Ugh!

i for some reason,really love that one liner.