‘Imperium’ shows Daniel Radcliffe’s increasing versatility

Imperium is being fobbed off with a half-hearted, late-summer theatrical and video-on-demand release, but that shouldn’t be an excuse to dismiss it. The latest example of actor Daniel Radcliffe’s attempt to de-Potterize his career, it’s a well-made, suspenseful drama that takes a familiar story of infiltration — one based on real events — and makes it compelling.

Radcliffe is Nate Foster, a quiet classical-music fan and loner of an FBI agent who was instrumental in getting an Islamic extremist to open up about a thwarted attack in Washington, D.C. Foster’s work is noticed by supervisor Angela Zamparo (Toni Collette), who thinks he’s perfect to insinuate himself inside a cell of white supremacists who may be planning a big event.

At first he wants nothing to do with it, but he soon finds himself — shaved head, tattoo and all — diving deep into this universe, where he discovers a warring world of both thugs and thinkers. One of the latter, Gerry Conway (Sam Trammell, True Blood), is a middle-aged engineer with a beautiful family who shares with Foster a love of Brahms. In his laid-back suburban way — no swearing allowed in his house — he’s more dangerous than the toughs he invites over for parties.

Radcliffe believably transforms himself from nebbish to someone with the appearance of a tough guy, and the rest of the cast, including Chris Sullivan (The Knick) as the leader of an insurrectionist cell and Nestor Carbonell (Bates Motel) as a skeptical FBI boss, is strong as well.

Based on the work of FBI agent Michael German, whose book Thinking Like a Terrorist: Insights of a Former FBI Undercover Agent provides the basis for Imperium, this film makes for an impressive feature debut from director Daniel Ragussis. It’s too bad then that it’s being buried as much as Nate Foster’s true identity.

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This story was originally published August 18, 2016 at 8:55 AM.