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#617 - The Counselor
Ridley Scott, 2013
A legal counselor becomes wrapped up in a complicated plot involving the Mexican drug cartel.
After having a few of his novels adapted into films (the most notable one naturally being the Oscar-winning No Country for Old Men), Cormac McCarthy decided to take a stab at writing an original screenplay. The result is The Counselor, so named after its protagonist (Michael Fassbender) who is only ever referred to as "counselor". As the movie begins, he's in a good place - he's about to propose to his girlfriend (Penélope Cruz) and making good money as a lawyer. Even so, he decides to team up with an associate (Javier Bardem) on not only building and running a club together but also on joining Bardem in his drug-dealing activities. From there, Fassbender and the various other characters are caught up in a ruthless game as they play off against one another and try to avoid unwanted attention from the cartel, especially in the case of Bardem's girlfriend (Cameron Diaz) who soon launches some criminal schemes of her own. It's a convoluted excuse for a thriller that naturally indulges McCarthy's tendencies towards verbose cynicism and violent nihilism, but one wonders if that's enough to save the film.
In short, it's really not. Despite the talent on display, it's mostly wasted. In my experience McCarthy protagonists are typically supposed to be passive and reactive to their increasingly dangerous crises and they are never the most important part of the story, but that's taken a bit too far with Fassbender turning out a pretty unremarkable performance, as does Cruz as his love interest. At the other end of the spectrum there are Bardem and Diaz, who take their characters in vastly different directions to equally unimpressive effect. At least Bardem has enough talent to sell his character, a fashion-victim criminal who is a cocky yet paranoid playboy that is far removed from his iconic No Country contract killer. He is paired with Diaz, who is the weak link in the main cast as she delivers a rather underwhelming performance even when it extends to the infamous scene where she gets extremely physical with a car windshield. Rounding out the top billing is Brad Pitt as an associate of Bardem's who actually makes for a fairly decent vessel for McCarthy's portentous ruminations between his sleazy drawling and all-white cowboy outfit. Other recognisable actors are peppered throughout but they don't get much of note to do beyond serve as glorified cameos.
One does wonder if McCarthy was deliberately trying to exaggerate the most distinctive qualities of his writing for the sake of cinema, but the results are extremely inconsistent in terms of actually being entertaining. When the film's not indulging some absurd moments of sex and violence (aside from Diaz's car "ride", there's an instance of a hitman setting up a lethal trap straight out of a Looney Tunes cartoon), it's featuring characters interacting with one another through such quasi-philosophical exchanges that fluctuate between gripping and boring. Despite some more darkly comical moments, it's a fundamentally grim affair in such a way that doesn't translate to consistently compelling entertainment. The film tries to make its strength out of the fatalistic examination of the criminal underworld and the people that either live in it or are simply passing through, but that's often shown up by the more graphically straightforward scenes (such as one scene involving a hitman's horrific contraption that is distinctive in a way that suggests it's aiming to stand out for its unorthodox nature like the cattle-gun from No Country). Respectable journeyman Scott goes about filming the proceedings in an extremely straightforward way with no real distinctions in terms of style, though he does lend the requisite energy to what I suppose could be considered action sequences. The Counselor is a very difficult film to like and I do have to wonder if it was by design (even though it probably wasn't). It's always a little disappointing to see an artist create a work that seems like self-parody or a fan's misguided homage, but the talent on display is just good enough to stop it from being a total disaster.
Ridley Scott, 2013
A legal counselor becomes wrapped up in a complicated plot involving the Mexican drug cartel.
After having a few of his novels adapted into films (the most notable one naturally being the Oscar-winning No Country for Old Men), Cormac McCarthy decided to take a stab at writing an original screenplay. The result is The Counselor, so named after its protagonist (Michael Fassbender) who is only ever referred to as "counselor". As the movie begins, he's in a good place - he's about to propose to his girlfriend (Penélope Cruz) and making good money as a lawyer. Even so, he decides to team up with an associate (Javier Bardem) on not only building and running a club together but also on joining Bardem in his drug-dealing activities. From there, Fassbender and the various other characters are caught up in a ruthless game as they play off against one another and try to avoid unwanted attention from the cartel, especially in the case of Bardem's girlfriend (Cameron Diaz) who soon launches some criminal schemes of her own. It's a convoluted excuse for a thriller that naturally indulges McCarthy's tendencies towards verbose cynicism and violent nihilism, but one wonders if that's enough to save the film.
In short, it's really not. Despite the talent on display, it's mostly wasted. In my experience McCarthy protagonists are typically supposed to be passive and reactive to their increasingly dangerous crises and they are never the most important part of the story, but that's taken a bit too far with Fassbender turning out a pretty unremarkable performance, as does Cruz as his love interest. At the other end of the spectrum there are Bardem and Diaz, who take their characters in vastly different directions to equally unimpressive effect. At least Bardem has enough talent to sell his character, a fashion-victim criminal who is a cocky yet paranoid playboy that is far removed from his iconic No Country contract killer. He is paired with Diaz, who is the weak link in the main cast as she delivers a rather underwhelming performance even when it extends to the infamous scene where she gets extremely physical with a car windshield. Rounding out the top billing is Brad Pitt as an associate of Bardem's who actually makes for a fairly decent vessel for McCarthy's portentous ruminations between his sleazy drawling and all-white cowboy outfit. Other recognisable actors are peppered throughout but they don't get much of note to do beyond serve as glorified cameos.
One does wonder if McCarthy was deliberately trying to exaggerate the most distinctive qualities of his writing for the sake of cinema, but the results are extremely inconsistent in terms of actually being entertaining. When the film's not indulging some absurd moments of sex and violence (aside from Diaz's car "ride", there's an instance of a hitman setting up a lethal trap straight out of a Looney Tunes cartoon), it's featuring characters interacting with one another through such quasi-philosophical exchanges that fluctuate between gripping and boring. Despite some more darkly comical moments, it's a fundamentally grim affair in such a way that doesn't translate to consistently compelling entertainment. The film tries to make its strength out of the fatalistic examination of the criminal underworld and the people that either live in it or are simply passing through, but that's often shown up by the more graphically straightforward scenes (such as one scene involving a hitman's horrific contraption that is distinctive in a way that suggests it's aiming to stand out for its unorthodox nature like the cattle-gun from No Country). Respectable journeyman Scott goes about filming the proceedings in an extremely straightforward way with no real distinctions in terms of style, though he does lend the requisite energy to what I suppose could be considered action sequences. The Counselor is a very difficult film to like and I do have to wonder if it was by design (even though it probably wasn't). It's always a little disappointing to see an artist create a work that seems like self-parody or a fan's misguided homage, but the talent on display is just good enough to stop it from being a total disaster.