Review of The Counselor (2013) by Sanjay T — 28 Dec 2014

"I suspect that we are ill-formed for the path we have chosen. Ill-formed and ill-prepared. We would like to draw a veil over all the blood and terror that have brought us to this place. It is our faintness of heart that would close our eyes to all of that, but in so doing it makes of it our destiny.

.." Does anyone else smell that fart of pretentiousness? Ridley Scott definitely hasn't while reading the script for The Counselor, which is the first one of legendary author Cormac McCarthy's career.

Two of McCarthy's novels (No Country for Old Men and The Road) were adapted into violent and severe thrillers by the Coen brothers and John Hillcoat, respectively, but as a screenwriter, McCarthy himself proves to be quite substandard.

His reputation must have attracted Scott and an A-list cast to this, and the actors all look like they believe McCarthy's dialogue to be the most profound stuff ever, which only makes the end result even more embarrassing.

But the flatulent dialogue is only a mere slip in a dire thriller that never manages to say anything meaningful about its themes of greed and sin, doesn't have even one exciting moment in it, features a bunch of characters that on the surface seem eccentric and interesting but eventually are all just boring and underdeveloped, and has a nihilistic approach that feels so forced that it never has the emotional impact Scott and McCarthy might hope it to have.

Michael Fassbender, Javier Bardem, Brad Pitt and Cameron Diaz all try their best, but their performances are completely forgettable, Penelope Cruz is completely wasted in a one-dimensional role, and other notable actors like Bruno Ganz and Rosie Perez only appear in single scenes to deliver even more flatulent dialogue.

Scott has long been a real craftsman of cinema, and The Counselor is also well directed, shot and paced, but in terms of substance it is pointless, meandering and hollow as a soap bubble. "Why are you telling me this?", Fassbender asks Bardem at one point.

Don't ask him. Ask Ridley Scott and Cormac McCarthy.