IMPERIUM (Daniel Ragussis). 108 minutes. Opens Friday (September 30). See listing. Rating: NNN
Daniel Ragussis’s undercover thriller declares itself “inspired by real events,” but its generic tale of a young FBI agent (Daniel Radcliffe) sent to infiltrate the American white power movement follows the familiar beats of decades of TV procedurals.
This doesn’t make it a bad movie, just a very familiar one.
Radcliffe and Toni Collette (as the pissy domestic terrorism expert who becomes his handler) bring their scenes to life, and co-writer/director Ragussis uses some inventive staging in the inevitable scenes where our hero has to think fast to maintain his cover.
Its R rating allows Imperium to be much more unsettling in its depictions of violence and hatred than your average episode of CSI, and in the era of a Trump candidacy, a movie that points to the dangers of racist rhetoric is definitely something we need.
But it’s awfully hard to build suspense when you can see every plot twist coming a mile away.