A strange big film

The Counsellor (MA15+)
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz, Penelope Cruz

IF YOU ever had a vague idea that drug-dealing might be the road to happiness and wealth, then this nasty big film will disabuse you of that flawed notion.
And be warned – this dirty morality tale gets very nasty indeed.
Michael Fassbender heads an all-star cast, and is less robotic than usual as the lead character, a lawyer on the lookout for some easy loot who dabbles in some heavy, high-level drug-dealing.
His law degree is described an an under-utilised “licence to steal”.
It takes a long time for anything to happen – then things take a turn for the very ugly.
The counsellor, despite having been warned, watches with growing horror as a very annoyed Colombian drugs cartel takes his life apart, brick by brick – starting with partner Penelope Cruz.
The movie has echoes of an espionage film, with many characters of dubious background and uncertain allegiance.
Brad Pitt, as a drug fixer, and Cameron Diaz as Javier Bardem’s partner, lead these ambiguous types.
Diaz’s “catfish” scene – too rude to describe in a family newspaper – will be spoken of for years to come.
Bardem, meanwhile, as a sleazy club owner (and is he a lawyer as well?), is his usual, unknowable, could-do-anything-at-any-moment freakazoid of the first order.
He and Diaz have a pair of cheetahs. Yep, cheetahs.
The cinematography is vivid, but overall there’s a sense that things don’t hang together too well – the whole of the parts is a little incoherent, and less than their sum.
This should have been a joyous guilty pleasure in the vein of Oliver Stone’s Savages.
In fact, it has more echoes of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. It’s a lesser film for it.
– Jason Beck