Rating of
2/4
A Heist in Need of Some Action
Chris Kavan - wrote on 08/30/13
Empire State, at its core, has all the makings of a good film. You have story ripped from the headlines about the largest heist in U.S. history and a gaggle of interesting characters to go along with it. But despite the premise for an interesting story, things just don't come out as anything more than strictly average.
The set-up is nice - you have a young man looking to support his family by becoming a police officer. Too bad one mistake in his past means he no longer qualified for that position. Instead he winds up as a security guard for Empire State - and he quickly finds out that despite holding a huge stack of cash, the place is about as secure as a wet paper sack. Enter his highly energetic and loud-mouthed friend - he sees an opportunity and soon plans are in place to rob the joint. Of course things don't go off quite as planned and with a snooping NYPD officer on the case, it quickly devolves from there.
The main issue isn't the story - I actually think the true events make it even more compelling - but it's the lackluster acting that spells doom. Liam Hemsworth playing Chris Potamitis may be nice to look at - but he seems about as interesting as a piece of plywood (and with as much emotional range) on this one. Meanwhile Dwaye Johnson (as officer James Ransome) sleepwalks through his roll as yet another tough character. Despite getting the most attention on the cover, he actually has a much smaller role than one would imagine. And poor Emma Roberts - even though she has a place on the DVD and top billing, her entire role probably covers about ten minutes of actual movie time - nothing more than a glorified cameo in my book.
Actually, the only actor who makes a real impression is Michael Angarano - he plays Eddie, the best friend who is always getting in trouble thanks to his big mouth and squirrel y behavior. Even if your reaction is to want to smack him upside the head the whole movie. In fact, my favorite scene comes at the end when Tommy (the patriarch of the Potamitis family) played by the underrated Paul Ben-Victor does what someone should have done much earlier in the film and gives Eddie exactly what he deserves. As annoying as he can be, at least Angarano really gets into his role.
The entire film just feels a bit lazy in direction - with such a great story, it could have been so much better. The only saving grace is that you can watch the special features and learn the real story it was based on - history is rarely as interesting as what Hollywood can turn it into (see Braveheart and 300 for spectacle over accuracy) but in this case history trumps what we see on screen. This will be filed as one of those films you watch and can't help but forget about a few months later. There's just nothing there to make it stand out.
