The Counselor (FILM REVIEW)
The Counselor
Film
Review by Kam Williams
“Can’t
Miss” Crime Thriller Manages to Miss the Mark
It’s easy to see why this crime
thriller got greenlit by Hollywood.
First of all, it was written by Pulitzer Prize-winner Cormac McCarthy whose relatively-riveting
“No Country for Old Men” won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
Secondly, Oscar-nominated director Ridley
Scott (for Gladiator, Black Hawk Down and Thelma & Louise) was brought aboard,
as well as an A-list cast topped by Academy Award-winners Javier Bardem and
Penelope Cruz, nominees Brad Pitt and Rosie Perez, and versatile character
actors Michael Fassbender and Goran Visnjic.
Furthermore, since the story is set
in Juarez, Mexico
and El Paso, Texas, it made sense to sign several leading
Latino thespians in Cameron Diaz, Edgar Ramirez, John Leguizamo and Ruben
Blades. Nevertheless, The Counselor turned out to be one of those curious head
scratchers that somehow adds up to way less than the sum of its parts.
The film is crippled primarily by a
pair of fatal flaws, namely, a glacial pace and a talky script laced with awkward
dialogue. For, while it waits for something, anything of consequence to
transpire, the audience is force fed lots of inexplicably stilted lines like,
“You are a man of impeccable taste” and “I intend to love you ‘til the day I
die.”
Worse, these corny quips are generally
delivered with so little conviction that you never know whether you’re supposed
to laugh or take them seriously. The actors’ inscrutably-flat affect invariably
comes off as tongue-in-cheek impersonations of characters right out of a typical
Damon Runyon yarn.
The picture’s farfetched plot revolves
around a nameless lawyer, referred to only as “The Counselor” (Fassbender),
a guy whose
greed is getting the better of him. At the point of departure, we find the avaricious attorney
head-over-heels in
love with Laura (Cruz), an exotic beauty he plans to propose to with an
expensive diamond ring he can’t really afford.
For reasons that never quite make
sense, this man of few words soon seeks to supplement his income by getting
mixed up in a dangerous Mexican drug trade known for its ever-escalating body
count. He’s offered a start in the business by Reiner (Bardem), a flamboyant
dealer with a flashier girlfriend (Diaz).
Ignoring repeated warnings from a
low-key middleman (Pitt) that entering the narcotics underworld is akin to stepping
in quicksand, the Counselor decides that the extra cash is worth a one-time risk.
The game plan is to deliver a sewage truck with over 20,000 ounces of coke across
the border and North to Chicago
in return for a big payday.
But the pivotal question remains:
will he be able to avoid becoming a statistic in a bloody turf war where
ruthless gangs don’t give a second thought about beheading a rival? A highly-stylized
borefest featuring blasé individuals overindulging in gratuitous violence and a
coarse brand of casual sensuality.
Fair (1.5 stars)
Rated R
for profanity, sexuality, graphic violence and grisly images
Running time: 111
minutes
Distributor: 20th
Century Fox
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