Jason Daniel Baker A South Bronx drug dealer (Leguizamo) with an uncommon sense of honor and professionalism longs for a better life and thinks he has found his way into mainstream respectability when he meets slick and duplicitous Wall Street investment banker Jack Wimmer (Sarsgaard in an uncharacteristically one-dimensional performance). Things go well at first and he believes he has left his old life behind for good but then disaster strikes.Written and directed by Franc Reyes this was a star vehicle for non-star John Leguizamo who also co-produced. Its pretensions are toward being a modern version of a 1930's Warner Brothers gangster picture with the Shakespearian rise and fall of a strong-willed character. Instead it falls flat with a preposterous premise and stereotypical shoot-em up elements.This is a thoroughly amateurish production right down to the casting of the extras and one wonders why solid actors like Sarsgaard, Rosellini, Serrano and Braga would have let themselves get talked into doing something like this.Reyes may have thought he was being clever by giving roles to people that aren't really actors but the result is a mess filled with awful performances that only picks up energy at the end (by which time most of the amateur actors' characters have been killed off).

hbert If the answer is yes, don't listen to this one. Every aspect of the story is the same, and as you can imagine it's not as good as the original.If the answer is no, don't listen to this movie. Go and rent Carlito's way. The story is the same but, in this one, the director and the actors are great. In fact, it's a classic. Don't loose your time and/or money on a fade copy.It's a 5 out of 10 for the movie itself, but because it's a copy, and I don't think it's mention anywhere, and it brings nothing new, except refreshing the pictures, it worth 2 out of 10.

Claudio Carvalho In South Bronx, Victor Rosa (John Leguizamo) is a successful drug-dealer. The area is split among four gangs and he has the best share. Their unique supplier is the powerful La Colombiana (Isabella Rossellini). Victor has a girlfriend, Carmen (Delilah Cotto), who is in the university and is the best friend of Trish (Denise Richards). Denise is the girl-friend of Jack (Peter Sarsgaard), a young and successful banker. When Carmen gets pregnant of Victor, he decides to change his life and invest his money with Jack. Carmen and Victor moves to Soho, where Jack has an empty loft. However, Victor remains trapped to his origins, and has serious problems in his new life style and world. This film recalls David Mamet's `The Spanish Prisoner'. This movie gives a lesson, which is that we shall never forget our friends and our roots. I like gang movies, and this story really hooked my attention until the last scene. Although being an independent small budget movie, the cast is excellent, the direction is good and the screenplay is also great. The Brazilian Sonia Braga has a minor participation as Carmen's mother. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): `Império – Dois Mundos Colidem' (`Empire – Two Worlds Collide')

MLDinTN This movie was OK, but you can tell is definitely low budget. The whole plot is nothing new. Drug dealer gangster wants to move up in the world and leave his criminal past behind, but it always catches up with him. You can't route for the guy, Vic, because he is nothing but a cold blooded killer. So, what do we care if the drug suppliers he owes money to catches him. Also, as is the fashion, he has some sort of drama with his girl. It was nothing more than a stereo-typical side plot. I agree with the other reviews that this movie would have been a lot better if they just stuck with the story of the rival heroin dealers and what happens when one moves in on another's territory.FINAL VERDICT: It's average. Not really worth watching since it's been done many times.