Review of The Counselor (2013) by Ryan L — 03 Dec 2015

Drug trafficking has been the source of countless movies, even before "Scarface" Tony Montana invited his assassins to "say hello to my little friend". And it's easy to see why Hollywood has returned to this subject so many times since. Drug dealers represent a shadowy underworld full of danger. This sub-genre easily lends itself to great drama - almost too easily. While many of these movies might blend together in your memory with their similar plot lines and interchangeable characters, the 2013 entry into this crowded field stands out. "The Counselor" (R, 1:57), treats the drug trade as background. The film emphasizes its human drama, making its characters practically pop off the screen in vivid detail.

The title role is played by Michael Fassbender. He's a lawyer who has worked with some pretty unsavory characters and has decided to participate in a Juarez to El Paso drug shipment that promises a very big payoff. He becomes engaged to his girlfriend Laura (Oscar winner Penelope Cruz) and seems to want to give her the best of everything. The Counselor is in league with men like Reiner (Oscar winner Javier Bardem) and Westray (multiple Oscar nominee Brad Pitt) who have seen it all and done it all. They offer advice on how to deal with the dangerous world he's entering, but they don't have a lot of answers when things go south and the local drug cartel thinks that The Counselor is trying to steal their shipment of cocaine. He learns that whenever you're in business with bad people, bad things can happen at any moment and even minor mistakes can be deadly. The mayhem feels simultaneously real and symbolic.

This is a thinking person's drug movie. The plot develops slowly as we see various characters doing things and having conversations that seem unrelated or inconsequential, but the great cast and the very smart dialog keep you engaged and make you eager to see how all this will come together. When it does, you can feel the danger the characters are in and the remorse they have, both for poor choices and for misunderstandings that carry life-altering consequences. The outstanding acting (especially by Fassbender) and the film's superior score draw you in and then propel you through plot points that you may see coming, but still generate suspense. This movie makes us think - while putting together the puzzle, once all the pieces have finally been revealed, and in the film's life lessons, both implied by the plot and insightfully expressed by the characters. I think that "The Counselor" builds too slowly and doesn't explain some characters' actions clearly enough, but Cormac McCarthy's script is generally well-written and Ridley Scott's direction is excellent. "A-".