Imdbidia
I'm a fan of real stories turned into movie when they revolve about an epic robbery and those robbed aren't worth of pity. This seemed to fit the genre. I didn't know what to expect from this, but the Rock is in it, so I thought, at least will be entertaining as he is the quintessential hero.The film is not dreadful, but it is kinda mediocre. Bad direction, bad production, mediocre acting, poor dialogues, bad tempo, lack of climax, lack of tension, lack of humour, lack of proper drama, lack of everything that makes this sort of movie interesting. The movie is supposed to happen in the 1980s, but it looks more like the 70s, regarding, dress style, make up, hair, and overall looks. If you don't get something as basic right, how do you pretend us to believe the rest? The acting is uneven. The Rock underwhelms here, probably because the role doesn't suit his style, and he is not a proper actor, but more an action hero and I am OK when he does those sort of movies. Liam Hemsworth has potential, but he needs a bit of time off and focus on developing himself as an actor, because his lack of dramatic register was painful to watch here and not even the accent was believable; he is miscast here, and the film doesn't make him any favor or push his career forward, quite the contrary. Three people stand out to me in this film: Arangano as the most annoying Eddie, Ben-Victor as the good Chris' father, and Rispoli as the normal-guy Toni. Other supporting actors are OK in their respective roles as not much is expected from them and they are stereotypical baddies.It is a pity that despite the story being really interesting a priori, this people wasted millions of dollars to produce a B movie. If I had had to pay for this, I would be furious. If a movie doesn't entertain you, doesn't make you laugh, doesn't move you, doesn't have a decent settings, or the right actors for the characters, well, why bother?
Ralph Cohen
Get this I happened to work for Sentry Armored Services off of Boston post road in the north Bronx I witnessed the money room that open and without the security and accountability for each drop off at the end of the shift, we all knew that the bosses were robbing the joint everyday that so I almost knocked one of the managers out in the street, those who knew the real dogs name worked there at that time, her name was Sheba the crapping machine that dog left land mines in the loading bay every morning, now for me I left that company months prior and very broke to work for Wells Fargo Armored happily, good movie the first minutes of the movie memories!
Tss5078
Chris Potamitis (Liam Hemsworth) has always wanted to be a cop, but as is the case with most recent graduates, he's on a waiting list, so he takes a job as an armored truck guard. Almost as soon as he starts working there, Chris is scared by the amount of money and the lack of security at the place he's working, and stupidly mentions that fact to his best friend, Eddie (Michael Angarano). Eddie immediately plans and executes a robbery, which both the police and Chris's mobbed up bosses thinks he's involved in. Now his life is endangered on three separate fronts and he's not sure where to turn. Empire State is a tremendous thriller based on a true story, written and directed by Dito Montiel, and if you don't know the name, you should. Montiel made a stunning debut, telling his life story in the film, A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints, in 2006 (On of our Must See Movies). Montiel's career has been all up hill from there. He grew up on the streets of Brooklyn, and all his films are based on real life stories from the neighborhood, that were forgotten a long time ago. With Montiel films you're always guaranteed a few things, a well written story, a tremendous cast, lots of action, and lots of eye candy, and Empire State does not disappoint. This film has everything from the insider angle, to the mob, inside the police investigation, and of course Liam Hemsworth at the center of it all. Big brother Chris may get all the recognition in Hollywood, for being the all-mighty Thor, but baby brother Liam, really does get better and better in every film I see him in. Empire State has a little bit of everything, it is well written, and comes at you from so many different angles. This film was so much fun to watch, it's the kind of thing you want to see more than once, and it's streaming so if you're not doing anything right now, go check it out!
Johan Dondokambey
The story has a very nice and potential background as its base. But it turned out that the movie didn't really took advantage of this in the development and execution. The opening looks quite nice with the back and forth flow of the story, starting the story near the ending point, and the quick story buildup between the start and the conflict revelation. But then it plunges into mediocrity, and quite honestly boredom, since the movie decreased its speed significantly and let the drama and investigation set in more dominantly. The action also don't take long when they happen. Too much use of close up angles combined with the very quick camera movement with less shot accuracy takes precious split seconds at those sequences to refocus on what we are viewing.The acting seems just a standard job in overall. It's a bad surprise considering the potentials of Dwayne Johnson and Liam Hemsworth.
AD
