The Counsellor (2013)
(The Counselor)
Country: US/GB
Technical: col/2.35:1 117/138m
Director: Ridley Scott
Cast: Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem, Cameron Diaz, Penélope Cruz
Synopsis:
A lawyer finances his fiancée's engagement ring by joining in a drug smuggling operation with a criminal contact of his. However, the latter's girlfriend has her ear to the door and subverts the shipment, implicating the lawyer and placing everyone in jeopardy at the hands of the Mexican cartels behind it.
Review:
On paper it looked like a dead cert to have the creator of No Country for Old Men return to the milieu of that movie, except that writing a novel is very different to writing a screenplay. This one is full of holes, is choppy and convoluted, full of portentous dialogue, some of which clearly presages doom for the characters concerned, and what is more is delivered in either a mumble or a thick accent by the majority of the cast (Miss Diaz alone emerges untainted in this respect). Clearly intent on developing No Country's theme of a no-man's land populated by remorseless and amoral human beings, the film contrives a handful of distasteful scenes without once giving its characters a chance, the result of which is akin to Shakespearean tragedy without the catharsis. In short, a nihilistic dud and the one unqualified mess of Scott's career.
(The Counselor)
Country: US/GB
Technical: col/2.35:1 117/138m
Director: Ridley Scott
Cast: Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem, Cameron Diaz, Penélope Cruz
Synopsis:
A lawyer finances his fiancée's engagement ring by joining in a drug smuggling operation with a criminal contact of his. However, the latter's girlfriend has her ear to the door and subverts the shipment, implicating the lawyer and placing everyone in jeopardy at the hands of the Mexican cartels behind it.
Review:
On paper it looked like a dead cert to have the creator of No Country for Old Men return to the milieu of that movie, except that writing a novel is very different to writing a screenplay. This one is full of holes, is choppy and convoluted, full of portentous dialogue, some of which clearly presages doom for the characters concerned, and what is more is delivered in either a mumble or a thick accent by the majority of the cast (Miss Diaz alone emerges untainted in this respect). Clearly intent on developing No Country's theme of a no-man's land populated by remorseless and amoral human beings, the film contrives a handful of distasteful scenes without once giving its characters a chance, the result of which is akin to Shakespearean tragedy without the catharsis. In short, a nihilistic dud and the one unqualified mess of Scott's career.
(The Counselor)
Country: US/GB
Technical: col/2.35:1 117/138m
Director: Ridley Scott
Cast: Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem, Cameron Diaz, Penélope Cruz
Synopsis:
A lawyer finances his fiancée's engagement ring by joining in a drug smuggling operation with a criminal contact of his. However, the latter's girlfriend has her ear to the door and subverts the shipment, implicating the lawyer and placing everyone in jeopardy at the hands of the Mexican cartels behind it.
Review:
On paper it looked like a dead cert to have the creator of No Country for Old Men return to the milieu of that movie, except that writing a novel is very different to writing a screenplay. This one is full of holes, is choppy and convoluted, full of portentous dialogue, some of which clearly presages doom for the characters concerned, and what is more is delivered in either a mumble or a thick accent by the majority of the cast (Miss Diaz alone emerges untainted in this respect). Clearly intent on developing No Country's theme of a no-man's land populated by remorseless and amoral human beings, the film contrives a handful of distasteful scenes without once giving its characters a chance, the result of which is akin to Shakespearean tragedy without the catharsis. In short, a nihilistic dud and the one unqualified mess of Scott's career.