When a shipment of smuggled Cesium is discovered by the FBI, the agency is quick to presume it was intended for a radical Muslim terrorist cell. But case agent Angelina Zampino (Toni Collette) suspects it was the work of white supremacists, and against her superiors wishes sends idealistic young analyst Nate Foster (Daniel Radcliffe) undercover to investigate. He shaves his head, reads up on Timothy McVey and Mein Kampf, and soon enough he’s in deep, way over his head. Radcliffe does well with the material. His accent is a bit clunky to begin with, but once he goes undercover, he is convincing as the sort of angry and confused yet smart kid that might be seduced by the upper levels of the white power movement. He struggles on some of the more awkward dialogue – the script has a habit of making him say big info-dumps of Neo-Nazi lore that not even the most obsessive true believer would say out loud – but apart from that it’s another impressive grown-up role for him. Toni Collette’s character is basically just every grizzled old FBI veteran rolled into one, but she gets that down to a tee. The one major difference to the set up, compared to things like Donnie Brasco, is that it’s easy to see how people can get seduced by the glamour and money of the mob, but here Radcliffe’s character is surrounded by constant hatred instead of girls and power. A theme of the movie is Collette telling him that he has to understand them, and find common ground with them to truly get on the inside. But that’s actually one of the biggest things that’s missing from the film. There’s very little exploration of what drives people to the white power movement. Obviously their abhorrent views can’t (and shouldn’t) be defended, but these people are often ignored by society or live in poverty, which means that such gangs and organisations can prey easily on them. But there’s little exploration of this in the film, and it feels like a missed opportunity. Imperium is in UK cinemas from September 23rd. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.