Barnes & Noble

Are Wall Street’s high-powered financiers any less ruthless or corrupt than the violent drug dealers who control entire neighborhoods in the Bronx? That’s the question forcefully posed in this gripping, innovative crime drama written and directed by promising young filmmaker Franc Reyes. John Leguizamo, a well-liked comic and an underrated dramatic actor, portrays Victor Rosa, an upwardly mobile Puerto Rican mobster who’d like nothing more then to move into a Manhattan penthouse with his lovely girlfriend, Carmen (newcomer Delilah Cotto). He thinks his chance might be just around the corner after meeting Wall Street hotshot Jack (Peter Sarsgaard), the smooth-talking boyfriend of Carmen’s college chum Trish (Denise Richards). Jack convinces Victor to launder drug money in a promising investment, which doesn’t quite pan out. Without giving away too much of the convoluted plot, we’ll just say that Victor doesn’t take to market losses with the passivity of most investors. Leguizamo pulls off the neat trick of engendering audience sympathy for a basically unlikable character, a hard-as-nails tough guy (a killer, in fact) who yearns for a respectable life with the woman he loves. Sarsgaard is deliciously smarmy, and Richards makes an alluring and amoral femme fatale. Empire will strike some viewers as a cross between GoodFellas and Wall Street, and justifiably so. This is a deftly written, skillfully played, and endlessly fascinating movie that thumbs its nose at genre conventions. The plot twists and turns with invigorating heedlessness, and you’ll be glued to your chair from first scene to last. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

A man who has made good in an illegal business discovers going straight is a more complicated matter than he imagined in this urban drama. Victor Rosa (John Leguizamo) is a drug dealer who has made a small fortune selling a heroin-based drug cocktail he's concocted called "Empire." Victor doesn't see himself as a dope pusher; instead, he considers himself an entrepreneur and a businessman who is simply making the most of the economic opportunities presented to him in the ghetto. Through his girlfriend Carmen (Delilah Cotto), Victor makes the acquaintance of Jack Wimmer (Peter Sarsgaard), an upscale investment banker who admires Victor's business savvy and street smarts. Victor is interested in getting out of drug dealing and into a legitimate business, and when Jack offers Victor the chance to buy into a new business, Victor eagerly accepts and makes a good profit in the deal. After this, Victor is all the more enthusiastic when Jack gives him the opportunity to invest in a much bigger project; the price, however, is more than Victor can afford, and he has to borrow from another high-stakes drug dealer, La Columbiana (Isabella Rossellini) in order to make the nut. It isn't long before Victor learns La Columbiana is not a good person to be in debt to -- and that Jack may not be all he imagined him to be. Empire marked the directorial debut of dancer and choreographer Franc Reyes; the supporting cast includes Denise Richards, Sonia Braga, Ruben Blades, and rapper Fat Joe. Mark Deming

Entertainment Weekly

Between bursts of automatic gunfire, the story offers a trenchant critique of capitalism. Bruce Fretts

Los Angeles Times

Leguizamo ... gives one of the best performances of the year in a lead role in an American movie. Kevin Thomas

San Francisco Chronicle

A gangster movie with the capacity to surprise. Mick LaSalle

Product Details

• UPC: 025192305320
• Source: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
• Region Code: 1
• Aspect Ratio: Cinemascope (2.35:1)
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
• Language: English, Français, Español
• Subtitles: English, Français, Español
• Time: 1:40:00
• Sales Rank: 10,449

This DVD is also available as part of a box set:

• American Me / Empire

Features:

DVD MENU