Grade:  C

Director:  Franc Reyes		Released:  December 2002
Writer:  Franc Reyes		MPAA Rating:  R
Players:  John Leguizamo, Denise Richards, Peter Sarsgaard, Delilah Cotto		Running time:  90 minutes

Ratings System

I've complained before about movie trailers giving away too much of the movie.  The trailer for Empire is beyond that, it not only gives away too much, it gives away the major plot twist but tries to sell it as the story line.  To me, this is false advertising. 

[spoilers, highlight hidden text to read]
I was expecting this movie to be about how Leguizamo's drug dealer gets double-crossed by a Wall Street guy.  Turns out, the double-cross doesn't occur until 3/4 of the way through the film!  It was clearly intended to be a surprise ending of sorts, I can't understand why they marketed it the way they did.  The trailer ruins the film because you spend most of the movie wondering when the double-cross is coming.  by the time it arrives, you realize that's not really what the film is about, as the trailer lead you to believe.
[end spoilers]

However, there's a great movie in there that's trying to get out.  The idea of a drug dealer making deals on Wall Street seems like a good one.  Maybe a gangster CAN turn legitimate and be successful doing it.  But we'll never find out, because Empire went in a different direction.  It starts out as a film about relationships: between boyfriend/girlfriend, between rival gangs, between drug dealers and drug suppliers, and it's well-done.  But the combination of the trailer and a downward dive near the end sink this movie from what it could have been.

- crocoPuffs