Empire is a movie that just begs to be mocked. This isn’t the case because Empire is pro-actively bad, but because:

A) For all writer/director Franc Reyes’ efforts to breathe new life into the drug dealer drama by including a Wall Street investment banker into the South Bronx drug dealing life of Victor Resa (John Leguizamo), this film breaks down to stereotype at every possible opportunity.

B) It contains such incredibly bereft and poorly written dialogue that it began to take me out of the movie, like when Leguizamo states: "I wish I could have told Carmen that I could never stop or slow down because I could never stop or slow down."

C) It co-stars the wooden and acting-challenged Denise Richards and Fat Joe, who both displa.html>spla.html>spla.html>spla.html>splay their unique talents here.

D) There is a near constant voice-over explaining everything happening on screen.

E) This film seems like an amalgamation of every drug themed movie I’d ever seen, including Scarface, New Jack City and R’Xmas to name but three. And...

F) When I stepped back and looked at Empire from a distance, I began to realize that this movie, as a whole, is a far less mesmerizing and dramatic version of Brian DePalma’s Carlito’s Way. This goes all the way down to the unexpectedly pregnant girlfriend and the attempts of the Latin protagonist to make something better of himself. The fact that Reyes himself worked on Carlito’s Way staging several club scenes merely cemented this idea in my head.

Dealing drugs is bad, despite the money and the good looking women that surround the dealers. Drug dealers often are swindled and meet with unpleasant and violent ends... Who would have ever been able to guess these hard life lessons before seeing Empire?

jackson casey

yes, it's true:

John Leguizamo played Luigi in The Super Mario Brothers Movie.