Review of Empire State (2013) by Maksim B — 25 Sep 2013

Empire State is a tough, socially confronting and partially absurd crime drama which finds its place among the decent B-movies of 2013. Suffering from predictability and lack of a true climax, but with overall engaging story and stylish cinematography, this movie is a real surprise and it is perfectly suitable for Sunday evening TV-entertainment.

Based on a true story, Empire State is set in the end of the 80s, in the Italian-Greek part of New York. Chris (Liam Hemsworth) and Eddy (Michael Angarano) are to young adolescent friends who have few chances and opportunities in front of them. With no option ahead, they decide to make a hit on the money depot where Chris works as a security. Half of the movie the story goes about how do the boys reach to the decision to make the hit and the second half is about how does it happen and its consequences. If one is interested in the story-development, he or she would be quite disappointed as Empire State is completely predictable and relatively slow paced. But if one is interested in the reason, the social context and the historical moment of the movie, then he or she would be pleasantly surprised.

Indeed, the story-development and lack of good pace do hurt Empire State's ability to entertain and to captivate the audience which expects a high-octane crime thriller. Instead of delivering this, director Dito Montiel focuses on the depiction of the social context, the lack of opportunities and the bittersweet reality which two young men are facing every day. Both, Hemsworth and Angarano are far from shining in their roles (Dwayne "The Rock"Johnson's performances is quite limited to mentioned it), but they manage to intrigue the audience with their characters. This is especially valid for Angarano, who succeeds to annoy the viewers with his character and to really provoke negative attitude and feelings.

Surprisingly to many, Empire State is a watchable movie. Unlike most deliveries directly released on DVD, Dito Montiel's movie could be followed from its first minute, until the final credits. It does not have the tension, the story or the performances to make it a must-see B-movie, but with is social context and ugly reality it has something that could keep the audience partially intrigued until the end.