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NUMBERS
Box Office: $17,504,595
VHS Rentals: $1,600,000
details...
CONSENSUS
In terms of the gangster genre, Empire's story is yet another tired retread.
CAST & CREW
John Leguizamo, Denise Richards, Peter Sarsgaard
Directed by Frank Reyes
more...
SYNOPSIS
EMPIRE, the debut film from director-writer Frank Reyes is a Latin GOODFELLAS, chronicling the rise and fall of Victor Rosa (John Leguizamo), a Puerto Rican drug-dealer working the violent streets of the South Bronx. more...
MPAA RATING
R, strong violence, pervasive language, drug content, and some sexuality
RUNTIME
90 minutes
RELEASE DATES
Theatrical: Dec 6, 2002
Video: Mar 18, 2003
RELEASE COMPANY
Arenas Entertainment
GENRE
Dramas, Money
OFFICIAL SITE
• The Official Empire Site
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PARENTS EVALUATION
TRAILER & MEDIA
PHOTOS
TIDBITS
NEWS ARTICLES
LINKS
SUBMIT/EDIT ARTICLE
SUBMIT USER REVIEW
FORUM
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 "If only the story about a multi-million dollar con bothered to include the con."
-- Victoria Alexander, FILMSINREVIEW.COM
"A dreary rip-off of Goodfellas that serves as a muddled and offensive cautionary tale for Hispanic Americans."
-- Jason Anderson, EYE WEEKLY
"Delivers the same old same old, tarted up with Latin flava and turned out by Hollywood playas."
-- Todd Anthony, SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL
 "Where as many films of this nature linger on the hard, the ugly, the blood, or just the stylistic; Empire focuses on the thinking, the love, and even the light-heartedness, as well as the violence."
-- Ross Anthony, HOLLYWOOD REPORT CARD
"It's not a bad plot; but, unfortunately, the movie is nowhere near as refined as all the classic dramas it borrows from."
-- Amit Asaravala, FILMCRITIC.COM
". . .this movie has a glossy coat of action movie excess while remaining heartless at its core."
-- Charlie Brown, FILMSTEW.COM
"What you get with Empire is a movie you've seen many times before, repackaged as new material because there is a Latino in the lead."
-- Larry Carroll, COUNTINGDOWN.COM
"What “Empire” lacks in depth it makes up for with its heart."
-- Robin Clifford, REELING REVIEWS
"John Leguizamo may be a dramatic actor -- just not in this movie."
-- Linda Cook, QUAD CITY TIMES (DAVENPORT, IA)
"Take away all the cliches and the carbon copy scenes from every drug movie we've seen and all you have left are John Leguizamo's cool jackets."
-- Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone, THEMOVIECHICKS.COM
"Victor is great character, played with macho zeal by Leguizamo."
-- Annlee Ellingson, BOXOFFICE MAGAZINE
"If it takes too many familiar steps, it is still never less than compelling as it walks the well-trod line."
-- Marshall Fine, JOURNAL NEWS
"It's sort of a 21st century morality play with a Latino hip hop beat. But the second half of the movie really goes downhill."
-- Jamie Gillies, APOLLO GUIDE
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"The thing looks like a made-for-home-video quickie."
-- William Arnold, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
"...familiar and predictable, and 4/5ths of it might as well have come from a Xerox machine rather than (writer-director) Franc. Reyes' word processor."
-- Rob Blackwelder, SPLICEDWIRE
"Empire can't make up its mind whether it wants to be a gangster flick or an art film. It doesn't work as either."
-- Robert W. Butler, KANSAS CITY STAR
"directed in a flashy, empty sub-music video style by a director so self-possessed he actually adds a period to his first name"
-- Jason Clark, PREMIERE MAGAZINE
"Reyes' directorial debut has good things to offer, but ultimately it's undone by a sloppy script"
-- Laura Clifford, REELING REVIEWS
"Despite its old-hat set-up and predictable plot, Empire still has enough moments to keep it entertaining."
-- David Cornelius, AMAZING COLOSSAL WEBSITE
"A rehash of every gangster movie from the past decade."
-- Paul Doro, MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL
"Victor Rosa is Leguizamo's best movie work so far, a subtle and richly internalized performance."
-- David Elliott, SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE
"A mostly tired retread of several other mob tales."
-- Jack Garner, ROCHESTER DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE
"An entertaining, colorful, action-filled crime story with an intimate heart."
-- Chris Gore, FILM THREAT
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ROTTEN 21%
Avg. Rating: 5.2/10 |
"It winds up moving in many directions as it searches (vainly, I think) for something fresh to say."
-- Robert Denerstein, DENVER ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS
"It has the right approach and the right opening premise, but it lacks the zest and it goes for a plot twist instead of trusting the material."
-- Roger Ebert, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
"Looks and feels like a low-budget hybrid of Scarface or Carlito's Way."
-- Robert K. Elder, CHICAGO TRIBUNE
"Between bursts of automatic gunfire, the story offers a trenchant critique of capitalism."
-- Bruce Fretts, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
"It's a grab bag of genres that don't add up to a whole lot of sense."
-- Rick Groen, GLOBE AND MAIL
"The characters ... are paper-thin, and their personalities undergo radical changes when it suits the script."
-- Eric Harrison, HOUSTON CHRONICLE
"A retread of material already thoroughly plumbed by Martin Scorsese."
-- Ann Hornaday, WASHINGTON POST
"This movie ... doesn't deserve the energy it takes to describe how bad it is."
-- Desson Howe, WASHINGTON POST
"A gangster movie with the capacity to surprise."
-- Mick LaSalle, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
"A predictable and stereotypical little B-movie."
-- Lou Lumenick, NEW YORK POST
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"Try as I may, I can't think of a single good reason to see this movie, even though everyone in my group extemporaneously shouted, 'Thank you!' when Leguizamo finally plugged an irritating character late in the movie."
-- Ken Hanke, MOUNTAIN XPRESS (ASHEVILLE, NC)
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* Who are the Approved Tomatometer Critics?
* Mouse over a tomato icon for a publication's original rating. Original rating not available for every publication.
* In fairness to critics whose last name begins with a letter at the end of the alphabet, certain pages are sorted in reverse order, z-a.
* Certain "Empire" article data provided by the Movie Review Query Engine.
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lepetitchat78
| If I could be anywhere: "Back in Cuba, sitting Indian style on the Malecon. Mojito in one hand, handsome revolutionary in the other." |
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