Movie Review: Critical Thinking (2020)

A chess drama, Critical Thinking is well-intentioned and decently engaging, but never threatens to rise above familiar underdog territory.

At the Miami Jackson inner-city high school, Mario Martinez (John Leguizamo) teaches a "critical thinking" elective, which is essentially a chess club. Despite minimal financial support from the school, Mario cobbles together a winning multi-ethnic team consisting of Ito, Rod, Gil, and Sedrick. They are later joined by Marcel, a recent arrivee from Cuba.

Some of the boys have troubled home lives, with Ito being drawn into the orbit of an intimidating drug dealer, and Sedrick verbally abused by a depressed father (Michael K. Williams). Nevertheless, Mario and the team scratch together travel funds and embark on a winning run at the regional and state levels to reach the national chess high school tournament.

Based on a true story and directed by Leguizamo, Critical Thinking continues the long-running tradition of a good teacher helping disadvantaged school kids rise above. The film delivers exactly what can be expected in terms of mixing tough backstories with inspirational pathways to better futures, which also means it could have been made any time in the past 50 years. Leguizamo's directing is more steady than flashy, although on-screen he appears to be trying too hard. The supporting cast of relative unknowns is adequate.

The mental jousting of chess is never easy to capture visually, but Leguizamo cares to cover the basics plus some of the game's intricacies, and the portrayed board positions appear realistic. Surprisingly missing is how the teacher Mario helps the kids become better chess players - they just seem to be naturally gifted. As the narrative progresses, routine scenes of tournament play mingle with clunkier classroom sessions and the boys dealing with personal issues. Joy is found in the simple pleasures of away-from-home success, including modest restaurant meals and nights spent bonding around cheap motel swimming pools. 

The travails of Ito falling into the street corner drug trade and Sedrick receiving the brunt of his widowed father's anger constitute micro-stories and round-out the characters as simple depth mechanisms, but also pad the running time towards the two hour mark. Critical Thinking is predictably competent and comfortably predictable.



All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.

Movie Review: Executive Decision (1996)

A terrorist hijacking thriller, Executive Decision is exceptionally well-crafted, and maintains inventive tension throughout an immersive story.

US Special Forces under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Austin Travis (Steven Seagal) fail to recover stolen nerve gas canisters during an operation in Italy. Months later, jihadists led by terrorist Nagi Hassan (David Suchet) seize control of a Boeing 747 flight out of Athens. Hassan demands the release of a captured terrorist leader and a safe landing in Washington DC. Flight attendant Jean (Halle Berry) stays calm as the hijacking unfolds.

US Army Intelligence consultant Dr. David Grant (Kurt Russell) concludes Hassan's real intention is to detonate a bomb attached to the nerve gas over the United States, causing a mass casualty event. To avoid blowing the airliner out of the sky and the death of 400 innocent passengers, Travis activates a plan to insert his unit onto the 747 using a modified stealth attack aircraft and untested latching technology. Accompanied by Grant and aeronautics engineer Dennis Cahill (Oliver Platt), Travis' squad embarks on the dangerous mission, but nothing will go according to plan.

Superficially, Executive Decision appears to be a straightforward Die Hard-style rip-off, set in the skies. But writers Jim and John Thomas and director Stuart Baird have other ideas, and produce a wildly entertaining, remarkably taut and mostly original thriller. Of course expectations of realism have to be set aside, but full enjoyment can be found within the script's internal logic, with clever surprises awaiting at every turn.

The edge-of-your-seat thrills start early, with the wacky concept of transferring an elite group of soldiers from a stealth jet onto a 747 through a hatch below the cockpit. Baird and his special effects team make the unreal seem real, culminating in an unexpected expiration, signalling loudly that this thriller is not content to play according to pre-established rules. The action then boards the mammoth airliner, and here the film teases by delaying the rush to a direct confrontation. Instead, a deliciously elaborate and tense hide-and-seek, cat-and-mouse preparatory game unfolds. The special forces assisted by civilians Grant and Cahill stealthily organize in the plane's bowels, while the terrorists command the cabin and flight deck.

Exemplary highlights are derived from sequential crises, as every time one problem is solved, another, worse complication arises. One matter of urgency is finding and diffusing the bomb attached to nerve agent cannisters, a task made much more difficult due to a serious injury suffered by bomb disposal expert Sergeant Campbell "Cappy" Matheny (Joe Morton). Cahill has to overcome his fears and learn all about bomb de-activation literally on the fly.

In parallel with the bomb countdown, Baird leverages the claustrophobic horizontal and vertical spaces to excellent effect. Grant and Captain Carlos "Rat" Lopez (Joe Leguizamo) manoeuvre through cramped utility shafts, installing spy cameras to track the terrorists' movements, and secretly recruit flight attendant Jean as their mole within the cabin. With the clock ticking down towards the airliner entering US airspace and being shot down, more dramatic surprises await as Grant and Rat have to think fast and act faster to avert disaster.

The one main disappointment arrives at the climax, an overly familiar and unnecessary land-the-stricken-plane routine not in keeping with the preceding quality. But in producing a fiendishly canny and rowdy thrill ride, Executive Decision earns its wings.

All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.

Movie Review: The Night Clerk (2020)

A crime drama and character study, The Night Clerk tantalizes with some intriguing potential but after a bright start loses steam instead of building momentum. 

Bart Bromley (Tye Sheridan) is a socially awkward 23 year old with Asperger's syndrome, working as an overnight hotel clerk and living with his mother Ethel (Helen Hunt). He voyeuristically snoops on hotel guests through hidden miniature cameras, using mimicry to improve his conversational skills. Through his cameras Bart witnesses an escalating argument involving hotel guest Karen and an unknown man. He rushes to the scene but when the police arrive Karen is dead and Bart is a potential suspect. 

He hides the video evidence from Detective Espada (John Leguizamo), who does not have enough evidence to make an arrest despite pressure from Karen's husband Nick. Relocated to another hotel, Bart meets guest Andrea Rivera (Ana de Armas), who appears lonely and treats him kindly. Bart is love struck, but Andrea is hiding her own secrets.

An independent production written and directed by Michael Cristofer, the first act of The Night Clerk carries promising echoes of a small scale Rear Window. A disadvantaged man passes the time observing others, only to witness a crime and become embroiled in the dangerous affairs of strangers. But while the opening third is engaging, the middle sags and the ending is clumsy, Cristofer unable to sustain the early impetus despite a crisp running time of just 90 minutes.

The context-setting, characters introductions and premise of voyeurism as a learning tool are all sharply delivered. But after the murder is committed, the crime investigation elements are incongruously neutralized to allow Bart and Andrea to get to know each other. The tone transition defangs the drama and sucks energy out of the narrative. Cristofer eventually cycles back to the antagonists and the investigation, but the conclusion is both rushed and bungled, and arrives too late to reignite thrust. Some key character relationships apparently primed for surprise reveals are also easy to spot. 

In a committed performance Tye Sheridan captures quirky awkwardness within Asperger's mannerisms, and introduces measures of pathos as Bart experiences the full force of first infatuation. Ana de Armas enjoys a few complex scenes as Andrea questions her actions and motives, but the supporting cast remains stiff.

The Night Clerk stays awake, but it's an uneven shift.



All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Review: The Hollow Point (2016)

A crime thriller with occasional dollops of gore, The Hollow Point is visually inviting but offers a baffling jumble of poorly executed ideas.

Prodigal son Wallace (Patrick Wilson) is appointed Sheriff of his rural Arizona hometown, located on the Mexico border. He replaces the grizzled and hard drinking Leland (Ian McShane), who is growing increasingly disillusioned and has just killed an ammunition smuggler after a violent struggle. Wallace reconnects with his ex-lover Marla (Lynn Collins), whose current boyfriend Ken has gone missing after killing a cartel member and helping himself to some cash

Wallace goes looking for Ken and soon tangles with corrupt used car dealer Shep Diaz (Jim Belushi), who appears to be profiting from the illegal ammunition trade. But much worse is to come in the form of ruthless and mysterious murderer Atticus (John Leguizamo), who is working his way through a kill list.

A good cast, impressive rural and remote landscapes and stylish cinematography cannot save The Hollow Point. The script is muddled beyond redemption, and in the absence of wit, depth and soul, the ambitions to recreate a No Country For Old Men vibe fall well short.

The story by Nils Lyew appears to have been haphazardly reassembled after going through the business end of a shredder, with key characters and events popping in and out of the story in random disorder. Director Gonzalo López-Gallego ploughs ahead, oblivious to the incomprehensible mess on his hands. What starts out as cross-border ammunition smuggling thriller morphs into a pseudo-horror indestructible killer drama without breaking stride. Intended victims routinely survive close-quarters gunshots with minimal scratches and no explanations.

And with no prior or subsequent context, one scene appears intent on infusing twisted religious demagoguery as the root of all evil. A clunky romance between Wallace and Marla never registers, and John Leguizamo is horribly miscast as a ruthless machete wielding killing machine.

Only Ian McShane stands above the carnage, his emotionally drained and craggy presence an order of magnitude better than the material around him. Otherwise, The Hollow Point is hollow but pointless.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Review: The Babysitters (2007)

A social drama, The Babysitters conjures up a devious but truncated feminist take on the business of sex between married men and babysitters.

High school student Shirley (Katherine Waterston) is facing normal pressures of preparing for college applications and entrance exams. She also babysits the children of Michael (John Leguizamo) and Gail (Cynthia Nixon). Their marriage appears tense, which encourages Shirley's crush on Michael. One evening Shirley and Michael share a sexual encounter, which he ends by throwing a handsome amount of money at her.

Realizing she will never be more than a sexual plaything for Michael, the entrepreneurial Shirley monetizes married men's lust for babysitters, and starts recruiting other high school girls for a prostitution ring. Her best friend Melissa (Lauren Birkel) emerges as her strongest business ally, but word soon spreads and rival girls establish competing businesses, creating a strong undercurrent of conflict and tension at school.

An independent production written and directed by David Ross, The Babysitters latches onto a complicated idea but is not quite sure what to do with it. The concept of high school girls profiting from the uncontrolled philandering of married men by organizing for-profit prostitution cartels is intriguing, not least because it is fraught with the pitfalls of a three-way collision between capitalism, feminism and the oldest profession unfolding in quaint suburbia.

Ross avoids all hints of titillation by almost completely stripping the film of any emotion, and this becomes a double-edged sword. Michael is the only character to display some semblance of conflict, but John Leguizamo fights an uphill battle against a script uninterested in warmth or depth. The other men are almost uniformly portrayed as doofus husbands and fathers quick to trade money for sex and unable to control their most base urges.

Meanwhile Shirley knows when she is being used and strikes back with pure economics, but her anger at men's transactional perception of babysitter sex can only carry the narrative so far. Likewise the other girls adopt a strictly business stance and march into whoredom in an almost trance-like state, middle class women-to-be seizing an opportunity to fund a college education (or buy more makeup and glitter).

Without any genuine human connections to latch onto, The Babysitters crumbles into a cold and calculating battle between competing girls to control the market, and unfortunately none of it registers as relatable drama. The plot devolves into a series of nasty and borderline exploitive actions featuring drugs, alcohol and mechanical sex as a weapon, a combination of connivance and naivete predictably leading to messy disappointments for all.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

 

Movie Review: Chef (2014)

A lighthearted drama, Chef explores new beginnings in the story of a once-celebrated cuisinier rediscovering his touch and reconnecting with family.

In Los Angeles, chef Carl Casper (Jon Favreau) is being stifled by his restaurant owner Riva (Dustin Hoffman), who wants to keep the menu safe. In his personal life Carl is still on good terms with ex-wife Inez (Sofia Vergara) and tries to spend quality time with his 10 year old son Percy (Emjay Anthony). A scathing review by food critic Ramsey Michel (Oliver Platt) triggers a social media war of words, and Carl loses his job.

He agrees to join Inez and Percy on a trip to Miami to recharge. The wealthy Marvin (Robert Downey Jr.), Inez's other ex-husband, agrees to bankroll Carl's venture into the food truck business, selling Cuban sandwiches. With the help of his friend and sous-chef Martin (John Leguizamo) and with Percy tagging along, Carl launches the food truck and embarks on a multi-city cross-country trip back to California.

When early career momentum stalls and early promise buzz evolves into middle age compromise, a fork in the road offers alternatives. Writer and director Favreau places his lead character at the decision point and allows him to flounder. With plenty of close-up shots of food being prepared (tantalizing or boring, depending on appetite and food porn tolerance), Chef is a mostly buoyant study of a career reset assisted by friends and family.

Despite the potentially weighty subject matter the film sidesteps excessive displays of dramatic emotion in favour of some comic highlights, mostly stemming from Carl bumbling into a career-ending social media storm. The film otherwise rides a comfortably fun vibe, the better-than-usual relationship between Carl and ex-wife Inez adding a welcome ray of hope that not all failed relationships need to end in acrimony.

The second half is essentially a food truck summer travelogue, Carl reconnecting with Percy as they establish the Cubano business driving from Miami back to Los Angeles. While a few conflict points spark between father and son, again Favreau steers Chef towards genial fare, Carl building a strong bond by passing on his love of cooking to Percy, while the ten year old takes charge of an effective online marketing campaign.

The high-powered but small supporting cast seems to be having a good time. Scarlett Johansson features in the first half as Carl's confidant and the hostess at Riva's restaurant, but then disappears. Dustin Hoffman and Oliver Platt get two scenes each, Robert Downey Jr. just one, and overall Favreau conveys a sense of buddies pulling together to create a small but pleasant movie on both sides of the camera. No doubt they all also enjoyed good food while on set.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Review: Moulin Rouge! (2001)

A musical comedy drama and romance, Moulin Rouge! adopts a manic ostentatious style and anachronistic music to recreate the avant-garde flair of the famous nightclub.

It's Paris in 1900. Starving writer Christian (Ewan McGregor) falls in with a group of Bohemians including Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (John Leguizamo) and helps them write a musical. They try to pitch the show called Spectacular, Spectacular to Harold Zidler (Jim Broadbent), the owner of the Moulin Rouge, the hottest nightclub in town. In the process Christian meets and falls madly in love with Satine (Nicole Kidman), a courtesan and the Moulin's star performer, who is suffering a serious illness.

But wealthy investor The Duke of Monroth (Richard Roxburgh) also sets his eyes on Satine, and will only invest in expanding the club and financing the show if she becomes his own. As preparations for the show progress, an illicit love affair ensues between Satine and Christian behind the Duke's back, but it all comes to a head on opening night.

A deliberate investment in flair over content, Moulin Rouge! is more about the experience than the story. Director and co-writer Baz Luhrmann pushes the cinematic form as close as possible to an overwhelming sensory experience to recreate what it must have been like in Paris' most celebrated social venue. After a slow start the film hits its stride and enjoys strong second and third acts, although every audacious scene dances on the line between triumph and disaster, with a few slipping over to the wrong side.

Nothing in Moulin Rouge! looks real, even by the standard of cinematic musicals. Frenzied editing, teeming crowds, disorienting close-ups, restless camerawork and outlandish set designs are both the foundations and unapologetic essence of the movie. Luhrmann drives for a surreal aesthetic on claustrophobic sets over-stuffed with extras, and an overall mischievously playful vibe inspired by troubled dreams.

The theme is as simple as love conquers all, the love triangle between Christian, Satine and the Duke the most basic of plot devices to hang all the jangling accessories on. Subliminal echoes of classic tragic romances such as Camille and La Boheme reverberate within all the theatrics. While the narrative is traditionally familiar, the music riffs on modern material from Madonna to Nirvana passing through Queen and Bowie and whatever else can be stuffed in between, lyrics from various sources often combined to convey a thought.

Kidman is in fine form and fully buys into what Luhrmann is selling, often to exaggerated extremes. She is ably supported by Jim Broadbent as impresario Harold Zidler, joining the ranks of Joel Grey and Gig Young in creating disturbingly memorable movie masters of twisted ceremony. In contrast Ewan McGregor never quite settles down into the role of Christian, and in the performance scenes remains a hesitant presence.

Madly fluctuating between magically joyous and utterly insane, Moulin Rouge! may not bring the house down but earns a standing ovation.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Review: Righteous Kill (2008)

A police drama featuring two veteran acting heavyweights, Righteous Kill wastes its cast on a tired and lacklustre premise and a dreadful twist.

A grainy tape appears to show police detective Turk (Robert De Niro) confessing to a series of extrajudicial murders, violently disposing of criminals who escape the law. In flashback, it is revealed that Turk (Robert De Niro) and fellow veteran detective Rooster (Al Pacino) have been partners for a long time, with Turk frequently combustible and Rooster more laidback. Turk blows steam through a sex-only relationship with detective Karen Corelli (Carla Gugino), who likes her intercourse sessions on the rough side.

A while back Turk resorted to planting evidence to apprehend a rapist and killer who had cheated the justice system. Soon thereafter, the murders of other criminals start. A short poem is left at the scene of each crime, earning the serial killer the moniker "Poetry Boy". With Lieutenant Hingis (Brian Dennehy) demanding answers, Turk and Rooster alternately cooperate and clash with younger detectives Perez (John Leguizamo) and Riley (Donnie Wahlberg). Suspicion begins to swirl around Turk, but the murder rate only accelerates.

De Niro and Pacino co-starred in the stellar Heat, but here they share many more scenes and are often on the screen together. 30 years prior they were two of the most celebrated and intense actors on the planet, and it's testament to their talent and endurance that Righteous Kill only matters because they are in it.

But that's where any notions that this is a good film come to a grinding and comprehensive stop. Directed by Jon Avnet and written by Russell Gewirtz, Righteous Kill is devoid of tension, suspense, action or any semblance of artistry. The murders are mechanical, soulless and mostly presented in a context vacuum, and the premise of cops turning into killers to clean up the mistakes of the justice system was old back in the 1970s.

The rest of the movie consists of anywhere between two and five cops on the screen talking, bickering and regurgitating the same arguments. They insult each other and get in each other's faces before sullenly going off to the next murder scene. Rinse and repeat. The robotic scenes are only interrupted by Turk's narrated confession on a grainy recording, a set-up for a cheap movie trick that would have been rejected in an introductory scriptwriting class. Rather than rescue the film, the twist ending buries it deeper in the dustbin.

Watching De Niro and Pacino is never less than worthwhile; it's such a pity that this collaboration arrived so late, and on such a righteously feeble project.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Review: The Infiltrator (2016)

A thoughtful biographical crime drama, The Infiltrator delves into the murky world of undercover enforcement work targeting ruthless drug cartels.

It's the mid-1908s, and Colombian drugs are flooding into the United States. Veteran Customs Service special agent Robert Mazur (Bryan Cranston) goes undercover as Bob Musella, pretending to be a well-connected businessman capable of laundering illicit money in large quantities. With the help of fellow-agent Emir Abreu (John Leguizamo), Mazur starts with one informant and works his way up to meeting leading cartel member Roberto Alcaino (Benjamin Bratt) and his glamorous wife Gloria (Elena Anaya).

Mazur is married to the long-suffering Evelyn (Juliet Aubrey), but as part of his cover has to pretend  he has a fiancée. His boss Bonni Tischler (Amy Ryan) arranges for rookie agent Kathy Ertz (Diane Kruger) to play the role of bride-to-be, causing more tension with Evelyn. Mazur even recruits his elegant Aunt Vicky (Olympia Dukakis) to help in the charade. Mazur and Ertz earn the trust of Alcaino and Gloria, leading to difficult decisions as the customs trap prepares to snap shut on the cartel members and their corrupt international financiers.

Directed by Brad Furman and written by Ellen Brown Furman based on Mazur's book of the same name, The Infiltrator is a slick character-based dive into the real world of crime investigations. This is an exposé of honour among barbarous criminals in expensive suits operating from boardrooms, bank headquarters and multi-million dollar apartments, where one word can be the difference between absolute trust and a bullet in the back of the head.

The film does suffer from a slow and marginally disorienting start, with too many characters and incidents introduced too quickly. Once the story settles down, the latches click and the tension ramps up into a gripping thriller shaped around people dedicated to their work on both sides of the law.

Almost by definition Mazur has to distance himself from his real identity to sell his cover. Maintaining trust with Evelyn is essential to his well-being, and yet Mazur has to develop a convincingly affectionate relationship with Ertz, and together they need to appear genuinely close to the Alcainos. The Infiltrator thrives in the milieu of emotional complexity necessary to pull off a dangerous deception.

The Infiltrator does take a few quick detours to short and sharp scenes of violence that serve as reminders of the brutality lurking behind the surface. And there is no shortage of colourful personalities populating the world of large-scale drug smuggling, with the slimy Javier Ospina (Yul Vazquez) in his all-white suits particularly troubling.

At the middle of it all Cranston is excellent as the crusty Mazur, who could retire at any time but insists on finagling his way into the lion's den, his craggy face equally effective reflecting a life invested in enforcement or selling the fake story of money laundering on a grand scale.

The powerful forces of organized and well-resourced crime require a special brand of enforcement, and The Infiltrator deploys courageous chicanery to serve the cause.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Review: To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995)

A culture clash comedy drama, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar goes for road trip laughs but rarely shifts out of neutral and runs out of gas early.

In New York City drag queens Noxeema Jackson (Wesley Snipes) and Vida Boheme (Patrick Swayze) are declared joint winners of a beauty contest. Their prize is a trip to Hollywood to compete in a national event. Before they depart Vida takes pity on Chi-Chi Rodriguez (John Leguizamo), a less confidant contestant, and the trio buy an old Cadillac and embark on a cross-country road trip. On the backroads of the hinterlands they tangle with bigoted Sheriff Dollard (Chris Penn) before their car breaks down and they are rescued by Bobby Ray (Jason London), a young man who provides a ride to his tiny community of Snydersville.

As they await car repairs, they get to know the locals, including innkeeper Carol Ann (Stockard Channing), who is suffering abuse by her husband Virgil (Arliss Howard), a mechanic and tow truck driver. Meanwhile a group of thuggish men threaten to rape Chi-Chi, who falls in love with Bobby Ray. The drag queens do what they can to help the community, including working with Beatrice (Blythe Danner) and other women to organize the annual Strawberry Social event.

Directed by Beeban Kidron and written by Douglas Beane, To Wong Foo must have looked good on paper: transform three macho male movie stars covering three ethnicities into drag queens, stuff them into a car and wait for riotous laughs to ensue. It never really works. While the costumes and makeup are brilliant and the men do their part in the acting department, the script is a limp exercise in contrived situations drawing on basic stereotypes exploiting the urban-rural divide.

With weak character development and the flimsiest of backgrounds afforded to Noxeema, Vida and Chi-Chi, the film defaults to a rather condescending story of three sophisticated urbanites invading a backwards rural community to make it better. Everything about Snydersville is in need of rescue, from spousal abuse to several sub-plots of awkward or unrequited love, plus the old lady who is thought to be mute but really just needs someone to talk to about old movies. And they are all threatened by the seemingly parentless local sneering hoodlums who have nothing else to do except rape and pillage.

Of course none of the locals are smart enough to notice that Noxeema, Vida and Chi-Chi are guys in women's clothing, and the drag queens set about to make everything better, because they know best how to fix all that ails small town USA. Once the film falls into the trap of its own making there is nothing to do except tediously await the obvious climax featuring the awakening of the great unwashed among the ramshackle structures that pass for a town.

Despite the weak material Swayze and Leguizamo do a fine job as drag queens. Snipes is over the top both in terms of looks and behaviour, his Noxeema Jackson reduced for long stretches to sideline quips. Robin Williams contributes an uncredited single-scene appearance.

The movie's title is derived from a signed memorabilia photo of actress Julie Newmar. The photo, the signature and the title have next to nothing to do with the film other than add to the general sense of clumsiness. To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar gets the fashion right, but everything else is a shambles.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Review: Empire (2002)

A routine crime drama, Empire tramples on exceedingly familiar gangster land territory and offers little in the way of originality.

In New York City, Vic Rosa (John Leguizamo) is a young and charismatic drug lord, leading a gang with control over a patch of the South Bronx. Vic and his lieutenants get involved in turf skirmishes with rival gangs from adjacent districts, although all the local dealers are supplied by the same drug import queen, known only as La Colombiana (Isabella Rossellini). Vic is dedicated to his girlfriend Carmen (Delilah Cotto) but also desperate to move up in the world.

He spots an opportunity to build a more legitimate fortune when he meets slick Manhattan investment banker Jack Wimmer (Peter Sarsgaard), who is living the rich life with glamorous girlfriend Trish (Denise Richards). Jack offers to cut Vic in on mysterious investments with promises of quick returns, and soon the money is rolling in. Vic and Carmen move into a swanky Manhattan apartment, but with the stakes getting higher, Vic discovers that leaving his old life behind isn't as easy as he thought.

Empire was an initially modest sub-studio effort aimed at Hispanic audiences. But gradually the profile of the cast expanded and the film, directed by Franc Reyes, saw a wider release. No one really needed to bother. While the movie carries some style and is competently assembled, this is a rehash of all the well-known gangster film themes, familiar since the early 1930s.

Every character is a cliché, every line of dialogue predictable, and the narration by Vic is oh-so- bland. Empire is not violent enough to cause a stir, nor groundbreaking in its portrayal of how gangsters, criminals and their molls think, act and react. It's a mercifully compact 90 minutes of lined up and knocked down platitudes.

Reyes does achieve some good aesthetic contrasts between the ramshackle street gang existence of the South Bronx and the glistening allure of Manhattan's high life, so at least Vic's quest to buy himself an upgrade is coherent. But the ease with which the supposedly whip-smart Vic gets seduced by Jack's ill-defined investment schemes introduces a severe central character contradiction.

John Leguizamo gives it his all in the central role, but often seems to be trying too hard. Peter Sarsgaard glides through the film with a glazed look of disinterest. The rest of the cast earnestly labour against the tight confines of characters who live and die within strict definitions.

Empire in not inherently deficient; just entirely derivative and utterly unnecessary.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

The Movies Of John Leguizamo

All movies starring John Leguizamo and reviewed on the Ace Black Movie Blog are linked below:

Revenge (1990)

Die Hard 2 (1990)

Regarding Henry (1991)

Carlito's Way (1993)

To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar (1995)

Executive Decision (1996)

Moulin Rouge! (2001)

Empire (2002)

Assault On Precinct 13 (2005)

The Babysitters (2007)

Righteous Kill (2008)

The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)

The Counselor (2013)

Chef (2014)

John Wick (2014)

American Ultra (2015)

Sisters (2015)

The Hollow Point (2016)

The Infiltrator (2016)

The Night Clerk (2020)

Critical Thinking (2020)

The Menu (2022)

The Odyssey (2026)

All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.

The Movie Star Index is here.