Sorry, this movie sucks

Load of rubbish!!

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

I was very happy after watching the entire movie. When it was first starting I thought that it was going to be a typical, bloody, wannabe gangster film. But as the scenes kept passing Leguizamo's character just kept getting better and better. To watch him go from the man running the show, and getting everything he wants in the South Bronx, to basically being Jack's little you know what was quite the performance. It really was a nice drama movie and one that I would actually watch more than once. It was also nice to see a movie that you could tell the director had some personal experience in what was taking place because when you would hear the voice over's from Leguizamo you felt as though that really was him as the character, and really was him who lived that life. To me that has to mean there was some personal experiences mixed into this dialogue. I recommend to anyone to watch this movie and make sure you give it a chance. Don't give up in the first 15 minutes.

The picture talks upon a dealer (John Leguizamo) with a lot of success on south Bronx who loved for his girlfriend (Dalilah Cotto) develops an economic relation with a Wall Street yuppie financier (Peter Saasgard) and his fiancée (Denise Richards).In the motion picture , shot in 22 days , there are tension , a love story , thriller , emotion , intrigue and a little bit of violence . The movie is fast moving and is enough amusing but happens many events . The pic obtained moderated success and didn't attain the box office that the producers wanted . The suspense movie is correctly narrated but there're some storyline gaps and the twisted plot makes it a few ridiculous . The film is classified ¨R¨ for violence and some sex and isn't apt for little boys , being for + 18 years' viewers . John Leguizano's fine interpretation as a drug dealer who becomes involved dark issues , he is good but plays as Latin stereotypes . Director Franc Reyes originally wanted John Leguizamo to play Jimmy , he liked the part of Victor so much that he got the filmmaker to give him that part . Leguizamo used his star power to help bring bigger names to the project . Dalilah Cotto and Denise Richards are attractive and enjoyable and Peter Saasgard as a hotshot business manager is magnificent . Isabella Rossellini as a Colombian drug lord is miscast and the veteran Sonia Braga hands a role very secondary as the starring's mother . The musical score by also actor Ruben Blades is nice and the movie is rightly directed by Fran Reyes .

For the first forty minutes, Empire really shapes itself up: it appears to be a strong, confident, and relatively unknown gangster flick. At the time I didn't know why, I thought it was good- but now I do. One of the main problems with this film is that it is purely and utterly distasteful. I don't mind films with psychos and things, to prove a point- take Jackie Brown, for example- but they're all so terribly shallow in this, but that is obviously thrown in for entertainment. You literally feel a knot pull in your stomach. Another major problem is the protagonist. He is smug, arrogant, yet- ironically enough- not that bad. He doesn't seem tight enough to be a drug-dealing woman killer. The fact is, at the end of the day, this film is completely pretentious. Not slick, not clever, just dull, and meaningless- this colossal mess should be avoided at all costs. * out of ***** (1 out of 5)

Although I am a fan of the leading cast, I may not have seen it if not for the fact that I grew up with Carlos Leon-the now famous, or rather, infamous "donor" of Madonna's (and his) first child, who plays Hector, and as a rival drug dealer gets it between the eyes.It's hard to suspend your disbelief when you know the guy, but even so, it worked for me-and for that reason. As a former city slicker, graffiti artist, general street punk, and now screenplay writer wannabe, I understand why critics and members here alike, took a stab it the flick. It was obviously low budget-but that isn't a bad thing, and it was well executed for the budget. Reyes gets my full respect for writing it-and for a new kid on the block, hit the street running. Sure, it's been done in one way or another, but most things have. The key to a film like this is that it's always new to some degree because every thug that strives to get out of the ghetto is still a different person, even if he goes about it in a way that isn't entirely unique. I went to Music and Art High School in Harlem, and being half Cuban and half white put me at odds with some ballbusters there. I know what a subway smells like in the heat of the summer as the stench of urine makes it's way up my nose, and what a loaded gun feels like to my face. I've puffed blunts before the terms was commercially known. This is why I give The Writer/Director 2 thumbs up. Because I also Grew up on the upper west side with my father in a doorman building, lurking in the streets uptown was my choice for thrill seeking. I can see why some mainstream white audience took potshots at this film, but they don't REALLY know the score. As someone who has some REAL stories to get out there myself, I hope to follow along the REAL VIBE. Sure, I know that I've got to be original and throw a few twists, but films like this will always have stereotypes because they do exist. It's cliché' cause it's true. My films will have a couple of strong stereotypes ... of course, and that's OK, it's about the struggle of the character, and the process of bringing it out in a way that does NOT require suspended disbelief. Keep it real.