Empire State
After failing to get into the police academy, Chris Potamitis settles for a security guard job with an armoured truck company. After he makes the mistake of mentioning the company's lax security to his best friend, He's unwittingly drawn into an elaborate scheme to rob the abundant amounts of cash being stored on their premises—resulting in the largest cash heist in U.S.history.
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- Cast:
- Liam Hemsworth , Dwayne Johnson , Emma Roberts , Nikki Reed , Michael Angarano , Shenae Grimes-Beech , Lydia Hull
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Reviews
Good movie but grossly overrated
Absolutely the worst movie.
The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
Totally unrealistic, and unimaginative. For being the "biggest heist in U.S. history", not much attention was given towards finding the culprits. The most glaringly offensive detail was the complete lack of realism when it came to the money. They kept saying "there's $25 Million in there", or more, but the amount stolen kept being reported as $8 Million. They alluded to possibly $16 Million, but what happened to the extra $ that was supposed to be in there? The crooks totally defied the laws of physics when it came to the money. This was millions in varying bills. Yet, $1 Million would be a stack of $100's 4 ft high, 22lbs. $25 million would have never fit in the trunk of a car, especially if it was $1's, $5's, $10's, $20's, and such. For that matter, the $8 Million supposedly put into the trunk of Chris's car wouldn't have fit either. The one detail that totally bothered me was the "drug deal" with the Colombians. A fairly light briefcase was placed on the table, with $8 Million in it; That briefcase would have had to be a magic briefcase to fit $8 Million, and it would weigh over 200 lbs. The Colombians don't question where the money came from, or relate it to a recent theft of $8 Million. They also didn't think to check their buyers for guns? And, nowhere did it say that the police even checked the Colombians for the missing money. Really? Towards the end, Chris tells Nancy, "the money's in the statue". They alluded to the statue in his mother's garden, but that statue was small, and probably Not hollow, let alone spacious enough to hold $8 Million. If you totally suspend belief, and ignore physics, you'll still be bored and angered by this movie. The acting sucked. The characters were Not interesting, believable, or worthy of sympathy. The owners of the security company didn't seem to give a crap. The employees didn't give a crap. And, the cops didn't give a crap. In the end, although they got caught by dumb luck, they still got away with it, and the clip of the real Chris, smirking and gloating, just made you want to whack him. The character of Eddie just made me want to shoot him from the start. He was totally unlikable, and only generated antipathy and hatred towards him. If I had planned a robbery, and my "best friend" was blabbing to everyone about it, I'd have killed him right away. Why he was a best friend totally escaped me. This movie was terrible. It was a waste of time to watch, and only left a sour taste when it was done. I watched, thinking any movie with The Rock, and Thor, would be a great movie; I was so wrong.
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?
The movie tells the real story of one of the biggest heist in New York at the beginning of the '80. Chris Potamitis used to work at a club but he loses this job because it had to shutdown. Now he searches for a new workplace and finds a post as a security guard for a company that moves large amounts of money with bulletproof vans. His father is not that lucky because he also loses his job for a little dispute between his son and his boss. The lifetime best friend of Chris, Eddie is a low time crook and rascal. One night, being on duty Chris discovers many flaws in the security system of the bank and tells Eddie about this. Incidentally Eddie tells that seeing this and all the bad luck he had lately he might as well rob it. He takes him serious and manage too steal a bag with 25000 $ without being caught. But what happens when the local cop starts investigating this mysterious robberies and the word that they could get rich very easy and very quick reaches at the wrong peoples?I give it such a high rating because it is inspired by a true event, has drop of humor, shows what weak where the protection of valuable items back them, letting a dog do some of the job and if you have 90 minutes of boredom this movie will successfully cover.
An Almost Movie that is Almost what it Attempts to be, but not quite. It has many Scenes that are Frustrating and the Characters range from Impossibly Irritating (Eddie) to somewhat Dull (Chris). The Director handles the Film in a way that could be called Mis-Handled. The Screenplay, even Worse and is all over the Place.Never Witty or Intriguing it moves along at a slightly more than Snail's Pace as it has some Clunky Combinations of Irritating Talk, Punctuated with some Violence. It never seems to Coalesce and by the End the whole Thing is a Ho-Hum Affair that betrays its True Life Subject Matter.This may have been the Greatest Heist in History but as a Film not so Great. Mediocre at Best, it is Dull at Times and is put together like a Crazy Woman's Quilt, resulting in a Craggy, Bland, but not Totally Worthless Film. It has some Moments but the Crime here is that it's all Rendered with a Complete lack of Style or Composition that makes this Type of Thing such a Perpetual, Intriguing Genre. The Heist Film. But it was an Opportunity that got Stolen Away in the Script Phase.