IMPERIUM
(director/writer: Daniel Ragussis; screenwriter: Michael German; cinematographer: Bobby Bukowski; editor: Sara Corrigan; music: Will Bates; cast: Daniel Radcliffe (Nate Foster), Toni Collette (Angela Zamparo), Tracy Letts (Dallas Wolf), Sam Trammell (Gerry Conway), Chris Sullivan (Andrew Blackwell), David Druid (Johnny), Seth Numrich (Roy), Nestor Carbonell (Tom Hernandez), Burn Gorman (Morgan), Pawel Szajda (Vince Sargent), Asif Khan (Farig); Runtime: 108; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Dennis Lee, Daniel Ragussis, Ty Walker, Simon Taufique; Lionsgate; 2026)
“A depressing thriller about domestic underground neo-Nazi groups infiltrated by the FBI to stop a terrorist attack.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
“Imperium” means the authority to command.
Daniel Ragussis effectively directs his debut feature film, a depressing, relevant and thought-provoking thriller about domestic underground neo-Nazi groups infiltrated by the FBI to stop a possible terrorist attack. Ragussis intelligently co-writes it with the former FBI agent Michael German, who may have witnessed similar real events.
Nate Foster (Daniel Radcliffe, the Brit actor is a former star in Harry Potter) is a scholarly, nerdy, young, newly hired desk-bound FBI agent who impresses the veteran agent in his Washington, D.C. office, Angela Zamparo (Toni Collette). She believes in his inter-personal skills after watching him question an African terrorist in the office and talks him into going undercover inside a domestic white supremacist group to make the connections needed to avert a likely upcoming terrorist attack. She has info that the right-wing hate groups who are determined to take “America back” for the white people from the Jews, African-Americans, and non-whites are about to do something radical for their cause–which might be to use a dirty bomb on a public target like the one used by Timothy McVeigh in bombing a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995.
Nate’s an idealist who takes on the dangerous assignment because he wants to make the world a better place. He thereby accepts being led by the experienced agent Angela, as he also heeds the risk warnings the FBI director (Nestor Carbonell) places on the mission.
Nate shaves his head and poses as an edgy skinhead living by his wits, who concocts a story that he was disillusioned with the liberal establishment after he returned from the Iraqi War, where he served in the Marines handling chemicals and weapons. He joins a thuggish neo-Nazi skinhead group after their volatile racist security man Roy (Seth Numrich) carefully checks him out to make sure he’s one of them. The skinheads introduce him to radio host shock jock Dallas Wolf (Tracy Letts), who advocates for white power groups in his book and on his broadcasts that are popular with the hate groups. Dallas promises on air that a big event, hinting it could be a dirty bomb, is coming soon and will start a race war.
Nate also befriends the leader of the militaristic Aryan brotherhood (Chris Sullivan) and the cultured low-key Gerry Conway (Sam Trammell), a wealthy racist, with a suburbanite family and a love for classical music. Gerry is friends with all the hate groups and regularly brings them together with a vegetarian barbecue at his house (Hitler was also a vegetarian). In the end, Gerry becomes the most dangerous domestic terrorist, as he’s set to bring about an explosive terrorist act but is stopped thanks to Nate’s undercover work.
Radcliffe gives an emotionally fine performance, even sporting a perfect American accent, except I couldn’t quite believe his sudden transformation into a hate monger even if the story was authentic. I also was not pleased with the heavy-handed third act.
REVIEWED ON 1/22/2026 GRADE: B
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