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EMPIRE Send This Review to a Friend
Narration can seem a lazy way of helping to tell a story, but with John Leguizamo as Victor crisply recounting his South Bronx drug-dealer philosophy of making money being the most important goal in life and bragging of smarts that can make him, a Latino, a big-time player, "Empire" gets off to a promising start. But it doesn't take long to speed downhill as just another cautionary crime tale of a violent rise and a violent fall.
Leguizamo adds vigor on screen as well with his dynamic presence. But he and the other characters are undone by the cliché-ridden screenplay by director Franc. Reyes. Delilah Cotto plays Victor's girlfriend Carmen, and we can predict that his ambitions will play havoc with them. Likewise, when he meets Jack (Peter Sarsgaard), ostensibly a successful investment wheeler-dealer on Wall Street, we know immediately that Victor will get in over his head.
Isabella Rossellini is wasted as La Colombiana, a drug boss, as are Sonia Braga as Carmen's mother and Denise Richards as Jack's gal. Violence lurks and bursts out as a result of the drug rivalries between gangs grappling for territory, and with a screenplay like this one, would you be surprised that loyalties are to be tested? One plus is the score, including original music by Reuben Blades. With a measure of talent at work, it is disappointing that "Empire" doesn't amount to more. A Universal Pictures release.
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