Empire State [2013]

While we’re in the whole heist subgenre, lets take a closer look at Empire State. Based on true events, where over 8 million dollars were stolen and almost 20 million left behind, Empire State is a rather conflicting movie. On one hand it is pretty disjointed and it never really builds up, and on the other hand the story is quite good, especially since its true. It can be used for one those nights when you just want to play something that isn’t too demanding or engaging, but almost like a TV movie. We can only hope that someone will take the elements that this movie is based on and make a decent movie, worthy of the events. The setting, the story and the characters had so much potential, but the director made the strange decision to keep the movie in the constant turmoil, hoping that this will keep the atmosphere engaging.

Chris Potamitis wanted to be a cop his whole life, but after being declined, he decides to do the next best thing and joins a security company. His job is to secure an armored truck with a lot of money in it, and he does it well right up until the truck gets jacked. During the robbery one of his colleagues gets shot and dies, leaving behind his wife and kids to fend for themselves, especially since the company pays them only ten percent of their insurance premium. Combine all these events with Chris’s best friend Eddie, a loser with big dreams who doesn’t care how he makes them into reality…

If you love heist movies, Empire State will do, especially since it’s based on a true story. The performances of all of the cast were a bit shaky, but still good enough. This can be said about this movie as a whole, good enough. If you are not a fan of the genre or find these movies tedious and boring, you should skip this one. I know it sounds strange, but I ended up watching Empire State ’till the end just to see what happened in real life, much like some reenactment that you would watch on cable TV.

Director: Dito Montiel

Writer: Adam Mazer

Cast: Liam Hemsworth, Dwayne Johnson, Nikki Reed, Michael Angarano, James Ransone, Emma Roberts

Fun Facts: First film directed by Dito Montiel that doesn’t feature Channing Tatum.

Rating:

IMDb Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2171867/