Olivia Colman acted her little heart out. She got so into this role, I feel bad that the film wasn’t better. But it wasn’t. And while it clearly wasn’t Olivia’s fault, that won’t satisfy an audience, no matter what the audience was looking for.
And that’s part of the problem. I’m not exactly sure what this film wanted to be – Cinema Paradiso? Do the Right Thing? Sibyl? Harold and Maude? All of them? None of them? It is literally impossible to say.
Here’s what I know for sure: most of Empire of Light takes place in the Empire theater, a semi-luxurious (at the time) movie house on Britain’s south shore in the early 1980s. Almost everybody with a line in the film either works or attends movies at the Empire. Hilary (Colman) is the shift manager, which is a pretty good position for somebody who is not necessarily all there mentally. The film hints that Hilary has recovered from something, but doesn’t let on what exactly she has recovered from for … a while.
In the mean time, the owner (Colin Firth) uses his position of power to work Hilary for sex. Lemme repeat that – the person who KNOWS Hilary ain’t all there repeatedly uses her for sexual purposes. Oh, and he’s married as well … so he’s cheating on his wife when he abuses his power to take advantage of a mentally unstable employee.
Do you suppose Colin Firth wanted to play a cad? Did he just wake up one day and say, “I haven’t played a piece of shit in a while…hey, an opportunity!” Whatever, dude. I liked you better – check that- I like your villainy better in Shakespeare in Love.
One day, new hiree Stephan (Micheal Ward) shows up and is directed to learn his job from Hilary. They seem to like one another almost instantly. A touching scene in which the two repair a broken pigeon together leads to a kiss. Are we shocked? We probably would have been in 1980. But the 
white/black thing and the age difference (literally 23 years, perhaps even more in the script) doesn’t shock so much in 2022. However, that doesn’t mean these things aren’t issues and the film is going to explore them from time-to-time if it isn’t too busy showing you how an English movie theater was run in the 1980s.
But the film also had to remind us that Hilary ain’t all there and that Colin Firth is still a dick and Chariots of Fire is coming to the theater! Dude. Are we celebrating diverse romance? Are we commenting on mental disability? Or do we just like hanging out at theaters? I can certainly understand the latter – I’ve quite likely hung out more at theaters than any five movie fans you now combined. Does that make this a good film? Unfortunately, no. It doesn’t. It makes it at uneven film – and I haven’t even described the skinhead parts yet.
Empire of Light clearly wanted to be an epic – a Chariots of Fire, a Cinema Paradiso, a Godfather, perhaps—but it was so busy examining the details of an epic that it forgot the part where first-and-foremost, we have to like the film. It doesn’t matter how great the acting is, Olivia Colman, if we stop caring what’s on screen. Ask Cate Blanchett, she knows all about it. I really did want to like this film. I liked Hilary and Stephan and the setting and a few of the scenes … but there just isn’t enough here for me to recommend, let alone rave about. Perhaps when Empire of Light figures out what it wants to be, it will cross that threshold.
A picture that doesn’t know which way to go…
Is it about racism, love, illness or seeing a show?
Whatever you find
Try to be kind
Cuz Olivia’s really actin’, doncha know?
Rated R, 115 Minutes
Director: Sam Mendes
Writer: Sam Mendes
Genre: Racism? Romance? Business practices? We will let you know when we settle on one
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Critics
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: People wondering if the good Sam Mendes or the bad Sam Mendes showed up (it was the bad one, sorry)
