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Empire in Ruins An
Empire in RuinsEmpire feels old and tired. It feels like something that was filmed at least a couple of years ago when movie tastes and audience rhythms were much different. The movie chronicles the efforts of a South Bronx drug dealer named Victor Rosa (John Leguizamo) trying to make enough money to quit his life of crime and go straight with his pregnant girlfriend (Delilah Cotto). We are supposed to identify with this guy, who ruthlessly murders people, turns his back on his friends, is alternately cruel than lovey-dovey with his woman, and is constantly looking for illegal schemes to get the cash he feels he deserves. I couldn't have cared less for this punk, which is a BIG problem in a movie that is told entirely from the point of view of the character.
The next big problem I had with Empire is the film doesn't know whether it wants to be a hard-core Latino gangster flick, a stylized action film with bullets and blood, or a good-hearted survivor story complete with inspirational music. The film is strictly small-time. Even worse, it seems to have gathered dust. When was this made? The World Trade Center is in the background A LOT! Leguizamo looks younger than he did in Summer of Sam three years ago. And at one point, his character reminds another character that they have to wise up because we're living in a time of "peace and prosperity." Uh, hello! Recession. Job cuts. Corporate bankruptcies. Terrorism. Bin Laden. Saddam. Bush. Cheney. A period piece? Oh, please.
Then, writer-director Franc Reyes tacks on this odd, poorly conceived subplot involving Victor getting bilked by a white collar Wall Street crook (Peter Sarsgaard) and his tight-pants girlfriend (Denise Richards, who should NEVER attempt to smoke in any other movie ever). I remember the preview trailer for this film. It led you to believe that this was the central plot of the film. That downtown would meet uptown, uptown would screw downtown, and then you'd get to see uptown go down-down courtesy of downtown. How this subplot is resolved is so stupid and quick and meaningless, I just sat there in the theater and openly questioned, "Is that it?"
Empire was the opening night attraction of the recent New York Latino Film Festival. And while it is nice to see such actors as Leguizamo, Cotto, Sonia Braga, Isabella Rossellini, and Madonna's baby's daddy Carlos Leon get the opportunity to be seen in much larger roles than they usually are offered, it's disheartening that they are in just another tedious, run-of-the-mill, gangsta action dud.
Stylistically, the film is VERY similar to Carlito's Way, a terrific Al Pacino film from nine years ago in which Leguizamo played a brief, but memorable bad guy. That film did a much better job at giving you a character who was a fantastic criminal, who wanted something better and more pure for himself and his lover. You wanted to see Carlito find a new life, and the direction by Brian DePalma was nothing short of breathless. In Empire, Leguizamo is trying to channel Pacino in some of his line readings and mannerisms, Reyes has no clue how to structure a story, and the result is just laughable.
This Empire strikes out.
Empire is rated R for violence, language, and drug use.
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