I guess "Imperium" falls into the white supremacist/thriller genre. Although not new ("Birth of a Nation" was made in 1915 after all), it lines up with drug cartel movies, mafia movies and Islamic terrorism movies.
What I think has happened is that these sub branches of the crime/spy/mystery genre come into vogue from time-to-time to fill the void left when the Wall came down and killed the Cold War espionage genre. Nothing has really taken its place; no more spies coming in from the cold or those hundreds of moles in high places that populated our screens for over 40 years.
"Imperium" has FBI agent Nate Foster (Daniel Radcliffe) going undercover to bust neo-Nazi white supremacists that have got their hands on radioactive isotopes and are planning to detonate a dirty bomb.
Just judging the film as a drama, without getting into the argument about whether it has too much of an agenda or bias, I think it falls short in a critical area.
The film doesn't have much emotional depth, and plays out like an expanded TV cop show where the issue this week is neo-Nazis. When I say it lacks genuine emotional depth, compare it to a movie with a similar theme that I think really worked: Joe Eszterhas' "Betrayed" with Debra Winger and Tom Berenger. What made "Betrayed" so powerful was Winger's character becoming emotionally involved with the extremist she was trying to trap.
The tension in "Imperium" comes from whether Nate will perform some evil act in order to keep his cover - he never does.
One effective aspect of the film is how Nate encounters white supremacists at different levels from street thugs to white collar types. However, although supposedly based on a true story, getting Nate more involved with the extremists beyond a superficial level would have sharpened the story. To borrow a little from Eszterhas, maybe if Nate had fallen for the blonde, blue-eyed daughter of one of the Neo's, it could have upped the ante, even if at the end he caught her dressed as Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS.
The problem with "Imperium" is in the predictable script not in Daniel Radcliffe's performance.
The film is competently made with some obvious influences, especially the audiovisual montage sequence from "The Parallax View". Now there's a film with the sort of edge the makers of "Imperium" could only dream of matching.
What I think has happened is that these sub branches of the crime/spy/mystery genre come into vogue from time-to-time to fill the void left when the Wall came down and killed the Cold War espionage genre. Nothing has really taken its place; no more spies coming in from the cold or those hundreds of moles in high places that populated our screens for over 40 years.
"Imperium" has FBI agent Nate Foster (Daniel Radcliffe) going undercover to bust neo-Nazi white supremacists that have got their hands on radioactive isotopes and are planning to detonate a dirty bomb.
Just judging the film as a drama, without getting into the argument about whether it has too much of an agenda or bias, I think it falls short in a critical area.
The film doesn't have much emotional depth, and plays out like an expanded TV cop show where the issue this week is neo-Nazis. When I say it lacks genuine emotional depth, compare it to a movie with a similar theme that I think really worked: Joe Eszterhas' "Betrayed" with Debra Winger and Tom Berenger. What made "Betrayed" so powerful was Winger's character becoming emotionally involved with the extremist she was trying to trap.
The tension in "Imperium" comes from whether Nate will perform some evil act in order to keep his cover - he never does.
One effective aspect of the film is how Nate encounters white supremacists at different levels from street thugs to white collar types. However, although supposedly based on a true story, getting Nate more involved with the extremists beyond a superficial level would have sharpened the story. To borrow a little from Eszterhas, maybe if Nate had fallen for the blonde, blue-eyed daughter of one of the Neo's, it could have upped the ante, even if at the end he caught her dressed as Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS.
The problem with "Imperium" is in the predictable script not in Daniel Radcliffe's performance.
The film is competently made with some obvious influences, especially the audiovisual montage sequence from "The Parallax View". Now there's a film with the sort of edge the makers of "Imperium" could only dream of matching.