Emil= one of the best villians ever.
A truly despicable person, and I honestly give a sigh of relief every time I watch this film and see him killed.
If only life were more like Grand Theft Auto.
Yeah, he was great as a villain, he played briliantly, the best possible choice for this role. He was not only playing very convincingly but has a "very Russian face" (I don't know how else to say it...) and that two factors worked very well in this film. He was definitely one of the strongest points in the film (besides de Niro, if not stronger..), played the villain very naturally, I liked how well he could play the disappointed and "now is my time" immigrant, also the evil smile toward Edward Burns he did in the end was simply genious (=that smile meant that 'you *beep* I could trick you, I won this game'), even made me angry. He is such a talent..
'We see two things in people: what we want to see and what they want to show us.' Dexter