Empire State

Empire State_360P

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source: Empire State

This is based upon a true story. Chris (Liam Hemsworth) takes a security job with Empire - a security company with armored trucks that went around NYC collecting money from businesses - after being rejected by New York Police Academy. Chris tells his friend Eddie (Michael Angarano) how lax the security is at Empire and he gets involved in one of the biggest heists in New York history. Eddie is a small time crook and after watching this movie he is also a big time pain in the butt. I don't think I ever saw a character so devoid of common sense and manners until now. So I guess Michael Angarano did a good job of it. Still, that was annoying. One may say if it wasn't for Eddie there would have been no robbery. Once the robbery is announced the police suspect the Mob families and they (the Mob) want to know who did this on their turf. This could have been dragged out more but it wasn't. Pity, as this could have had some humorous moments. Here's the thing: The money was never found, and was about $8-million which was half the amount robbed. The other half went to the local drug lord and was confiscated by the police. The pacing is good. There was good acting all around. You see everything, but still the other half of the money was not found. However, Chris did tell waitress Nancy (Emma Roberts) where the money was, but nothing ever came of it. Or did it? Hmmmm……………….. You will have to draw your own conclusions here as there is nothing left to go on. No one is talking. Well, maybe we didn't see everything. Dwayne Johnson as Detective Ransome performed well and had his suspicions of who was involved in the heist.(5/10) Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: Yes, much.

After failing to get into the police academy, Chris Potamitis (Liam Hemsworth), settles for a security guard job with the Empire State Armored Truck Company. Chris makes the mistake of mentioning the company's lax security to his best friend, Eddie (Michael Angarano), and is soon unwittingly drawn into a scheme to rob the abundant amounts of cash being stored there - resulting in the largest cash heist in U.S. History. As the stakes continue to rise, Chris and Eddie must outwit James Ransone (Dwayne Johnson), the veteran NYPD Detective that is hot on their trail, as well as the local crime bosses that want to know who pulled a job on their turf, or suffer the consequences. The eighties setting is realistic and it looked like it had so much potential to be a fun or interesting thriller. Based on a shocking real-life incident, Empire State is frustratingly dull, half-baked and mediocre through and through. Dwayne Johnson and Emma Roberts who are on the poster are just glorified cameos. I don't know what they were thinking when they signed up for this. Its all about two simple-minded idiotic guys, Chris (yes, even him for letting his unbalanced friend know about the state of the place) and Eddie and their choices. Liam Hemsworth is miscast and looks like he's barely learnt how to act. He isn't charismatic enough like his real-life brother, Chris (Thor) to take on a lead role. Michael Angarano is the loud-mouthed, stupid, stereotypical best friend who plays it over-the-top and gets annoying quickly, but his was the only character that I was glad to see no matter the annoyance. They shouldn't get the blame though since its the writer and director who let the movie down. The execution is lacking and the movie is full of clichés and mediocrity. They did the right thing by releasing it straight to DVD. Skip it even if you're a fan of Dwayne Johnson or any of the actors. 4/10

In the 80's, in New York, Chris Potamitis (Liam Hemsworth) had dreamed on joining the police academy but his best friend Eddie (Michael Angarano) destroyed his dreams being caught by the police with marijuana together with him. Chris is hired by the Empire State Company to work as security guard in an armored truck with the driver Tony (Michael Rispoli). When Tony is murdered in a heist and the Empire States does not pay the insurance to the widow, Chris decides to steal money from the depository to give to her. Chris comments with Eddie, who is a lowlife and bigmouth person, the fails in the security system of the Empire State and Eddie plots a scheme with another smalltime criminal to steal the money from the depositary. The FBI agents do not believe that two morons like Eddie and Chris could have planned the heist but the experienced Detective Ransome (Dwayne Johnson) follows his instincts to solve the case. "Empire State" is movie apparently based on a true story with one of the most unpleasant and irritating characters of the cinema history, the loser Eddie. Consequently the performance of Michael Angarano is top- notch. On the other size, Chris Potamitis is shown as a naive and quite innocent victim of the heist but it is hard to believe in this character. Therefore, despite the good performances, the screenplay is badly written and waste the good cast. My vote is five. Title (Brazil): Not Available

I rented this because of the actors names to be totally honest. I watched the trailer and was expecting a heist, action, drama, maybe even a little thriller because of the hint of "mob" potential. It was so bad - I couldn't even finish watching it (turned off at 42 minutes). The best parts were in the trailer, which itself is misleading. I like Dwayne Johnson so I was hoping for action. The action fizzled at best. It was just anti-climactic. I don't want to give it away in case some one actually wants to watch this but the actors/actresses have so much potential and it just wasn't harnessed. I didn't even realize that was Emma Roberts during the movie until I re-watched the trailer. Ever watch a movie with random scenes that makes you wonder how it adds to the movie? This flick had plenty of those. Was it supposed to add to the character? I couldn't tell if Hemsworth was nice, a pushover or a thug. His constant shift made it difficult to root for or feel sorry for him. I don't know if it was the writing or the directing but words cannot express my disappointment.

I came across to Empire State totally by accident. I thought it was going to be another pizza movie for my 90 minutes in front of my monitor. Thankfully I was wrong. The movie has a really good script and the director gave his best to create scenes and pace that keep your adrenaline and interest in high levels. I didn't expect such a good cast and such a beautiful acting from the lead and supporting roles. I also liked the development of the characters and the locations in many-many points. It is a strong, serious, well-structured film. I am excited about this movie and I am sure that every watcher will fell the same. Expecting more movies like this from the producers. Thanks. Pablito Greco

Empire State is an action-suspense based on a true story based on a robbery taking place in the late 80's. Even though based on true events it misses out on vital information and ends up being close to an entertainment piece. While the mood of the 1980's starts to set in it also lacks to develop an interest to what is going on. This is the result of slacking production. Do not raise your expectations cos of the cast and budget. (Michael Angarano) was convincing in his role that though it got a bit loud sometimes. (Liam Hemsowrth) just manages to pull off his and finally (Dwayne Johnson) as a cop with hardly any part. He was just the poster boy and probably did it for the money or out of a favor. (Emma Roberts) has been hardly given any screen time. Dito Montiel falls off short to keep the events in concurrence to the film. At the end we also see the real (Chris Potamitis) in an interview who says the money stolen disappeared but in the film its been said that it was hidden under a statue, a pointless addition of fiction. Hence concluding without true meaning. I wouldn't be surprised to why an $11 million movie is being released straight to DVD. People wondering why I couldn't catch this up in the theaters will be thankful later. *NOTE : $2 million of the loot was recovered

(Credit IMDb) A drama centered on two childhood friends who plan to rob an armored car depository, and the NYPD officer who stands in their way. I've seen a lot worse when it comes to STD movies, but this just wasn't all that interesting in the whole scheme of things. For a true story, you would think more effort would be necessary. My main problem with Empire State is how bland it is. It doesn't have that much action what so ever, and it lacks the emotional punch needed for a film of this magnitude, and the cast just simply isn't up for the challenge. I garnered no emotional stimulus between Chris (Liam Hemsworth) & Michael Angarano (Eddie) because not only did the film not make me care about their fates, but their performances were rather poor. Liam Hemsworth is not lead material, and made for a very boring lead. He also felt miscast, and forced in the lead role. Michael Angarano isn't much better. He grated my nerves with his wise-ass character, and I felt like smacking that smug look off his face. His chemistry with Hemsworth was off as well. Dwayne Johnson is criminally wasted in this movie as a detective. Whenever he appeared on screen, my interest level was raised significantly, but that was much too seldom for my liking. He was far too good to have such a small part in this movie. Emma Roberts is barely in this movie, aside from a few pointless scenes. We get scattered clips in the beginning and the end of the real life events that took place, but it didn't matter much to me. Final Thoughts: A rather mundane account of a true story. I'm not gonna tell you to avoid it, but don't expect riveting entertainment. It's not a very good movie, and it went straight to DVD for a reason. 4/10.