Review of The Counselor (2013) by Nevadastarr — 26 Oct 2013

I’ve seldom seen published reviews of a film that have so misunderstood a film. Banging on THE COUNSELOR as a failed thriller is like disparaging a hat for not being a shoe.

THE COUNSELOR announces what it is, early on and self-referentially not a thriller but a moral fable, a cautionary tale and then proceeds to deliver just that, impeccably. No hair-raising car chases, no miraculous escapes, no ingenious last-minute victory for the hero, and thank god for it.

Austere in its point of view, anti-naturalistic by design, and florid in its dazzlingly tawdry material surfaces, this story moves toward its inevitable outcome without missing a beat. In essence, it says don’t trifle with evil, guy…don’t even. Because evil will answer your invitation, will visit its tragic dance upon you. Here, watch it destroy you in a cold torrent of pain.

Scott and McCarthy deliver this excellent work on their own terms and within their own parameters, no hedging, no apologies. The plot is always two steps ahead of the audience, so pay attention please. The dialogue, which has elsewhere been quoted with jeers, actually plays magnificently. Along the way are some amazing performances, Fassbender as, fundamentally, an innocent looking for a fast, casual score, Diaz as a devastated soul, Pitt as a candidly self-aware crook. And of course the ever inventive and brilliant Javier Bardem as the sybaritic ‘mastermind’ with a stripe of stupid running through him.

If you merely want someone to root for, go to a ball game. If you want fast food, look elsewhere. Scott and McCarthy serve up a coherent fictional world to which the viewer must simply surrender. This film will last and be revisited again and again, long after other routine thriller fare has been lost and forgotten in the streaming video graveyards.