In the area around Washington D.C., some FBI men are working to uncover terrorist plots. One of them includes a young guy named Nate Foster.

At some point, an illegal item gets stolen. Nate is then enlisted by an FBI female worker named Angela Zamparo.

Meanwhile, a black man named Usman gets arrested. Nate questions him in another language—the one Usman speaks.

Shortly after, Nate cuts his hair into a buzz. He then meets some other men at a local restaurant. They are all Neo-Nazis led by a guy called Vince Sargent. They talk about some important details relating to white supremacism.

The guys drive around. Then the scene switches to a meeting, where the attendees are watching footage representing white supremacism.

A man emphasizes on how essential the white race is. Nate and his fellow Neo-Nazis are there, too.

Right after the meeting is over, Nate and his fellows come across a blonde woman with a Hispanic man. They get all aggressive and even call the Latino guy a racial slur.

Not long after, Nate and the Neo-Nazis participate in a white supremacy parade, where they express their superiority. On the curb, there are people protesting their prejudice. Not only that, but Usman is also there. He tries to say something to Nate. But Nate shuts him up and calls him the N-word.

Nate and the other men get tackled by law enforcement. Then they drive away and try to escape, despite the traffic and how the vehicles in front of them are not moving.

Sometime later, Nate goes to a backyard party hosted by a guy called Jerry. He also meets Jerry’s kids, who built a treehouse to hide from “danger.” Nate enjoys the event.

However, he gets forced to go to a military complex. A guy named Blackwell reveals that there are blueprints for a terrorist attack.

Stakes begin to rise. Nate also lies about being part of the military, and everyone finds out that fib. He also angers Angela to the point where she practically gives up on him.

What will happen next?

The first half of the movie kept me engaged. Part of the reason was because Daniel Radcliffe played the main character. Not only does he do a good American accent (although I did hear some hints of his natural English accent at times), but he also speaks Usman’s language very well.

The scenes also switch quickly enough throughout the film. Unfortunately, the story went downhill at the midpoint.

Aside from being confusing and hard to follow, certain parts were offensive. They include the white supremacy parade and the racist terms used. I am shocked that the filmmakers got away with that in 2016!

I’m not going to spoil the ending. But I will say that the characters did not get in trouble for using derogatory slurs. If they did, then my opinions might be a little different.

I also had trouble keeping track of who each character was, especially the Neo-Nazis. They all looked too similar.

Yes, it was important for their hair to be buzzed. But I still can’t recall their names, other than Nate.

The last several minutes do get kind of better. That is because tension levels go up.

Overall, Imperium was just okay. It’s a bit of a bummer, because I was hoping that this film would be the first thriller that I truly enjoyed.

But because of the offensive content and confusion, it ended up not being that. At least the insensitive material didn’t take up too much of the story.

I give this movie 3 out of 5 stars.