Synopsis
Nate Foster, a young, idealistic FBI agent, goes undercover to take down a radical white supremacy terrorist group. The bright up-and-coming analyst must confront the challenge of sticking to a new identity while maintaining his real principles as he navigates the dangerous underworld of white supremacy. Inspired by real events.
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Cast
- Daniel RadcliffeNate Foster
- Toni ColletteAngela Zampino
- Tracy LettsDallas Wolf
- Sam TrammellGerry Conrad
- Nestor CarbonellTom Hernandez
- Chris SullivanAndrew Sheehan
- Seth NumrichRoy
- Pawel SzajdaVince Sargent
- Devin DruidJohnny
- Burn GormanMorgan
- 88
Chicago Sun-Times
Imperium is a well-spun, tight thriller, thanks in no small part to Radcliffe’s excellent, sharply focused performance. - 80
Los Angeles Times
A chilling, surprisingly effective crime thriller. - 80
The New York Times
Nate’s journey is used primarily to show us the variations in extremist groups and how they might accomplish something drastic like set off a dirty bomb; his inner turmoil takes a back seat. The movie works just fine as a straightforward thriller, though. - 75
Slant Magazine
It demonstrates both the fatal proximity and deceptive distance that can exist between the words and deeds of extremists. - 75
The A.V. Club
Radcliffe’s performance also ramps up toward the end of the movie, when the pressures of undercover life and his struggle to empathize with these people — his main asset as an undercover agent — really begin to weigh on him. - 75
Christian Science Monitor
The most interesting character in Imperium is not even Nate. It’s Gerry Conway (Sam Trammell), a seemingly normal family man who reads the great philosophers and loves the music of Brahms and Tchaikovsky, even making an exception for the recordings of Jewish maestro Leonard Bernstein. Terrorists come in all flavors. - 70
The Hollywood Reporter
Imperium traffics in familiar undercover cop thriller conventions while gaining resonance from its disturbing, timely milieu. - 70
Variety
Imperium’s depiction of the white-nationalist underground is ultimately background for a straightforward potboiler, and the film is at its best when it stays in that arena.