Review of The Counselor (2013) by Liam C — 20 Feb 2014

The more I think about this movie the more I realise that I think I actually liked it. True, watching it was a very odd and unique experience where nothing was explicitly explained and quite a lot did not make sense but the more I let the film linger in my head the more all the pieces fell together.

I'm glad I held off from writing this review because if I wrote this review right after I saw the movie there would have been nothing but negativity against the movie. Does that mean a movie is bad? I'm not sure, a movie that makes no sense when you watch it but you go away, think about it and process what you witnessed and actually come away satisfied? Maybe it's a good thing, maybe it isn't but whatever that means, all I know is that I am in the minority of people who actually liked this.

The cast is terrific and Michael Fassbender does a great job in the lead and Cameron Diaz was a lot of fun and clearly loved playing her role. Still, even though I found myself enjoying it there are HUGE problems with the film.

Many scenes could have been cut as, to me, they felt so pointless and they didn't add anything to the story. Some of the dialogue is just strange, which has already been commented on by damn near everyone at this point because normal people don't talk like that.

And some of the characters seem like vessels that spout monologues as opposed to actual people. It's not a very easy movie to understand or to watch but that's what gives it its edge. It's a strange movie, not much makes sense and it's not very pleasant because it's bleak for the sake of being bleak but I like it.

The fact it's been a week and I'm still thinking about it? It must be doing something right. I am not sure how many stars to give it, for the executed movies its probably a 2.5 but for the idea and actual story its about a 4 and I actually liked it so maybe it's a 3.

5? I really do not know at all. At any rate I look forward to this being my first blu-ray.