Also, don't forget the allusions to "King of New York" which, like "Carlito's Way", was a far better movie. Here are the ones I noticed:
1) When Leguizamo buys his girlfriend an expensive necklace, there's a nice long shot of the Plaza Hotel, which is where Chris Walken holes up when he gets out of jail.
2) The scene where they rub out the big, fat drug dealer and his gang looks exactly like the one where most of Walken's gang gets rubbed out.
3) When Leguizamo goes out to see Isabella Rosselini, there's a long shot of his car leaving the city via the 59th Street (i.e. Queensboro) Bridge. This is an exact reversal of the shot of Chris Walken's car on the same bridge entering the city (when Walken first gets out of jail).
Of course, "King of New York" was a masterpiece, while this was, at best, a reasonably entertaining "minorpiece".
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DemocraticEmpire
21 years ago
Its not similar to Carlito's way at all. You do realize Carlito's way was about a drugdealer trying to get away from a life (like Empire) but unlike Empire it isnt a cultural film and there are dozens of film that revolve around the same topic. Trying to get away from crime, building a crime empire, killing someone who killed your best friend etc. Empire is not a remake it may have one or two things in common, but that doesn't make two films similar.
BTW, King of New York Sucked hence one reason why it did not make a profit while Empire's profit was 15 times what the film cost.
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langstar1
21 years ago
Dude how can you say that Empire was better than King of New York. Ok first of all Empire is full pf cliches and plot holes. Not to mention the production values are poor and the only noteworthy performance is that of Leguizamo's. The director has little experience and clearly can not work with actors.
King of New York is directed by the great Abel Ferrara of "Crime Story" and 'Bad Lieutenant" fame. Christopher Walken proves his talent once again by giving a hard and comical performance with material that could have easily been cliched garbage. How bout Larry Fishburne and David Caruso? they both also give strong and notable performances. And the last point of mine is the fact that KONY introduces a clever new element. The fact that Walken's character wants to be charitable was a contradicting and brilliant addition to the story.
EMPIRE = MEDIOCRE, SEVERAL FANTASTIC SCENES, AWFUL ENDING.
KING OF NEW YORK = GREAT, WELL MADE FILM IN ALL ASPECTS.
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SirChaul
21 years ago
Yeah, I know. This movie's lame.
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huevudo
21 years ago
LAME , not at all. i mean this is totally a good movie. The least u could say, is it is a mediocre movie, i mean this whole imdb thing is too harsh in scoring movies, i mean i guess it's cause everyone's white( jokes about dat white thing ).
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Dominican9
18 years ago
Empire was pretty good and i DO agree that i was thinking about Carlito's Way throughout it. Carlito's Way is a classic and can never be compared to Empire.
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derirre357
17 years ago
Come on, King of New York is terribly dated and there is some very stupid moments in it. Just an example - how was the cop able to find Walken in the subway i.e. how he knew where to look for him? Not to mention that Walken cuffs him up to a WOODEN chair - he only needed to break in order to free himself and that's exactly what he did. And then he found Walken's spare gun. Now that's a true masterpiece. Obviously KONY appeals only to geniuses cause no-one else likes it.
Carlito's way was a phantastic movie but KONY was average. I have seen it a few times over the years and every time it is worse. Only good thing about it are the actors. Bad lieutenant is a much much better film.
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