Imperium (2016)

Whilst the storyline had great potential but failed to deliver throughout The Nazi's acted like posh kids Especially Daniel Radcliffe Corny and terrible Harry p is a terrible actor

"Based on true events," usually means a good story. This film is no exception to that. I'm not a Radcliffe fan as an actor, but he does a credible job of acting in this film. It's worth viewing.

Politics in the United States of America beyond the right of the Republican Party is a fairly murky pool – it seems you do not have to journey too far for too long before you at least arrive at a very basic form of fascism. "Imperium" is a film which dares to depict these circles – the ones you end up venturing into when you plough through the barriers of what might constitute plain-old-regular conservatism: when you've passed the place on the spectrum occupied by people possessing an allergy to abortion; a love of the Christian God and a good rifle collection and arrived at straw swastikas; Confederate flags; Nazi salutes and One World Government conspiracy theories.I think this is ultimately down to the fact there is no such thing as American 'nationalism', so one does not need to go too far beyond the constraints of standard Roman Catholic/Christian/Mormon inflected right-of-centre conservatism (epitomised, perhaps, by George W. Bush or Mitt Romney in America in recent years) before one hits the brick wall of out-and-out hatred. This derives from two things: America, unlike European and Asian nations, lacks a physical national identity - an accepted national dress code; a national cuisine; a common language or religion. It opts, instead, for metaphysical things to determine its identity - things such as a love of freedom or faith in democracy. The point being that one can be of any racial denomination and from anywhere to share these beliefs.Secondly, the USA never had to stare down the armies of Hitler in the way Britain did, nor suffer occupation like the French; the Dutch and everyone else had to. Because there was no direct Nazi threat to them in the 1940's, Americans appear less sceptical to picking up the torch of Hitler's ideology and running with when compared to Europeans. There are plenty of European politicians and parties who are accused of doing this, but a moment's thought should figure out that they often are not actually those types of people.As for the film itself, "Imperium" is a perfectly workable thriller, which cracks along at a satisfying pace and never over-complicates what it's trying to do so much that you become lost in a maze-like narrative. It is fairly televisual and plays out its dynamic of 'cops' vs. 'racists' in a standard heroes and villains manner.It is English actor Daniel Radcliffe, who is actually part Jewish and is on record as to having supported the British Labour Party, playing Nate Foster who leads the film - an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. As a character, Foster appears shorter than the other agents in the bureau and a little geekier – he's bespectacled and listens to classical music. When he is given his brief in a local diner by the perpetually gum-chewing Agent Angela Zamparo (Toni Collette), he appears to have ordered a glass of wine rather than the standard beer or whisky. He is picked on at work and scorned for his "pipsqueak, ivy league" intellectualism. The film's overall arc in many ways is about Foster winning their respect.Zamparo's said brief is the suggestion that Foster go undercover in order to infiltrate a skinhead gang with ties to wider neo-fascist movements – this is in the wake of the bureau discovering chemicals frequently used in terrorist attacks that could only have come from Africa in a recent road-traffic accident. You can, meanwhile, literally hear the clunking as there is the suggestion the chemicals might not have anything to do with an Islamic Terror cell, but a White Supremacist one. An amusing aside derives from Foster's way into the group: a fake story based on serving in Iraq and becoming inherently disillusioned with the direction America is going. This is despite the fact it not being very long prior to this that Johnny Rebel was singing "F... You" to Osama bin Laden in the wake of 9/11 and banging the drum for war in the Middle East while he did it.It is to Daniel Ragussis' credit that he spins out a thriller as engaging as "Imperium" is, although it is not without its problems. The film is spearheaded not by any fantastic narrative or character study, but by a Daniel Radcliffe performance which demands credible fascist world outlooks on some occasions; inflexible fear on others and sheer terror at the worst of times as suspicions arise around him. Both actor and director combine well to convey the numerous dread-infused situations whereby Foster's otherwise liberal individual is forced to confront people most certainly not of his political persuasion under the pretence of solidarity. Similarly, the decision to unfold the film in such a way so that tremendous harm appears in the least likely of moments and vice-versa is incredibly satisfying. In spite of everything flimsy about the film, "Imperium" is worth catching up with.

I went in with high hopes with the plot sounding very interesting but I was very let down. First the movie starts with showing a couple FBI agents acting unprofessional and throwing something at him to get his attention when he has headphones on. It then cuts to a scene where the FBI is saying they found some potential WMD material and there is still multiple amounts unaccounted for. They strongly imply that Islamist's have it for some reason because it's from Africa. Then of course it cuts to a female FBI agent schooling all the FBI agents on where the last WMD material was found. I found this as another movie just trying to make a bunch of guys look dumb and a woman leading the way with logic. Then the next scene cuts to her going to Radcliffe's character and showing him a video basically of a white supremacist admitting he has knowledge of the accident that was stated to be not shared by the media. He obviously would become the number one suspect for the entire FBI not just this woman and a rookie FBI agent. They make the FBI look like a bunch of Islamophobic idiots of course everyone except the lone women in the briefing... Daniel Radcliffe's then assumes this horrible backstory where he says he was a marine but it's quite obvious he's not built or carries himself like a soldier. Apparently all you need to do is shave your head and watch a few YouTube videos and your all set for a deep undercover op. They go-to their superior and of course he thinks it's so dumb and he doesn't believe it's worth it when the obvious video of a white supremacist leader talking about privileged information. The whole thing is so plain and lame it's incredibly obvious he isn't a soldier or a white supremacist. He's wearing Levi's which is apparently a no no cause Jews own them but then gives a back story no joke that his brother gave him jeans and as a gift lol. He instantly gets into the upper circles of the group which is really lame cause these groups would obviously be extremely tight nit and they would have grew up together. They also visit him at his apartment which is completely bare without a single sign of fascist ideology. Not a single thing the guy owns has a swastika on it. His tattoos are way to bright to be not recent. I'm guessing it's just airbrush for the movie but they could have made them look more natural. Then it comes to the protest against antifa. Antifa is shown in a very positive light which is concerning because they are usually the first people to go-to violence yell mindless chants and have the hammer and sickle of the communist USSR which is just as bad as a swastika. Overall the movie seems like a horrible attempt at a thriller there no genuine sense of anxiety of being a undercover he does a terrible job to begin with. I do believe Radcliffe's gives a decent performance but the script and plot is terrible. The movie isn't very believable and I'm had a hard time not watching something else. It's extremely far fetched and depicts organizations incorrectly. I'm actually getting frustrated watching it as I really expected something with the same power of American history x or Russell crowes white supremacist movie. If I was one of these guys you bet my ass I'd be able to figure it out. This feels politically motivated picture with a liberal bias as well. They should have done some more research on. The FBI and these organizations cause they feel very rinky dink and cheesy. There's no strong personality's really whatsoever. I can usually find one good thing about a picture but I can't think of a single one. I'd rather watch a kids cartoon.