13 Years Later, Dwayne Johnson’s Forgotten Crime Thriller Hits a New Streaming Platform

2 weeks ago 10

Published Mar 28, 2026, 7:00 PM EDT

In over three years at Collider, senior author Jake has now penned over 2500 articles covering a wide range of TV and film for the resources, lists, utilities, news, and interview teams. Alongside interviewing stars such as Selin Hizli, Rose Ayling-Ellis, Harlan Coben, and Chelsea Peretti, Jake was lucky enough to visit the set of Aardman and Netflix's Wallace and Gromit: A Vengeance Most Fowl in 2024, getting the chance to chat with four-time Academy Award winner Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham. Jake has also worked for other publications, including Agents of Fandom.

Earlier this week, this year's summer of blockbusters took another step forward as the official trailer for the hotly anticipated live-action Moana remake was released. Giving fans their first look at Dwayne Johnson's Maui following his voice work in the animated version, as well as Catherine Laga'aia as the titular daughter of Motunui's chief, the trailer is already being praised for its rich visuals and the music of Mark Mancina, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Opetaia Foa’i, suggesting this might be one of 2026's best-looking and best-sounding blockbusters.

Sailing onto screens worldwide on July 10, there are still just under four months until we can finally experience this latest in a long line of live-action adaptations. For fans of Johnson, they can luckily help pass the time with a viewing of one of his lesser-spotted starring turns on a brand-new streamer next month. Titled Empire State, this straight-to-DVD release from 2013 starred Johnson alongside Liam Hemsworth, under the directorial eye of Dito Montiel (Fighting). The film also features Emma Roberts, Nikki Reed, Chris Diamantopoulos, James Ransone, Shenae Grimes, and Jerry Ferrara.

The movie is based on the true story of a 1982 armored car company robbery in New York City that was once to be the largest cash heist in U.S. history, better known as the "Sentry Armored Car Courier Company theft." The film did receive a small theatrical run, although it was largely released on DVD, managing to pull just under $200,000 in total ticket sales. This April, 13 years since its debut, you'll be able to watch Johnson and Hemsworth in dramatic action on the free streaming site Plex.

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Audiences Disliked 'Empire State'

Dwayne Johnson wearing a police uniform and holding a pistol while entering a room with two other officers in 'Empire State' (2013)

Scoring just 24% from over 2,500 ratings on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, it's clear that audiences didn't take to Empire State. Critics also didn't respond well to the film, although so few filed reviews that there is no official score on Rotten Tomatoes. "Overall, there’s just not a whole lot to recommend about Empire State. If you want to learn about what really happened, you can simply look it up anywhere online instead of taking the 90 minutes to sit through this flat and lazy telling of the tale," one critic wrote, adding, "This may have been a fascinating and original story when it happened back in the '80s, but all this film proves is that it took someone far too long to finally put the story in front of the camera."

Empire State is coming to Plex this April. Stay tuned to Collider for more streaming stories.