The Infiltrator (2016)

The Worst Film Ever

Such a frustrating disappointment

Highly Overrated But Still Good

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

This is based on a true story and book of Robert Mazur (Bryan Cranston) working as a DEA undercover agent out of Tampa. Mazur gets the idea to "follow the money" instead of the drugs. The film is nearly 2 hours of him meeting and chatting with bankers and various members of the Medellin Cartel in project C-Chase which also tied into CIA operations and the BCCI, a later scandal that was so complex, even when broken down and explained, Congress couldn't understand it.The film is a real life crime drama. It has some action just when things are starting to creep. Some killing, some blood, some close calls. No one jumping from roof top to roof top. No car chase scenes, one car crash scene. No one fighting with a bullet in them. Action is bland when compared to modern super cop films.Guide: F-word. Brief sex. No nudity.

Exceptional movie, which is based on true story, on drug war with Columbia. The story is complex, fast-moving, brutally authentic. It made me spent 3-4 more hours to watch documentaries on Pablo Escobar, just to understand more about the context. I watched this first, then the hyped Sicario (2015), just to realize that the later is totally crap, despite its awards and box-office gross.

Some things can feel like a drag. Like being an investigative undercover cop. You don't have much private life and you can't have too many friends. Well outside of the fake friendships you may create to get what you want. And while this does not hit you with a hammer over your head, there are subtle hints and some obvious ones in the portrayal Bryan Cranston gives us.There are quite a few good actors in this and all is based on real persons and a real case. It really is difficult to capture all this and go into all the private moments. Even with two hours running time, there is certain things that have to be left out. But it still is very coherent and very suspenseful, from start to finish. It's not quite Infernal Affairs, but then again what movie is? This is powerful and while the most of the characters are despicable, they are also human beings and the struggle and transformation feels real.Having said that, I do understand if for some this is not enough, one criticism I didn't get is about the music. Soundtrack by the numbers? What is that supposed to be? You can dislike the movie obviously taste-wise, but I would seriously like to know what another reviewer meant by this.

Once Breaking Bad was over, Bryan Cranston became a somewhat unlikely Hollywood leading man scoring an instant Best Actor nomination for the biopic drama Trumbo.He's returning to his secretive crime sweet-spot with The Infiltrator but instead of playing the crook, he takes on the role as an undercover cop looking to break into a massive drug cartel that stretches all the way to Pablo Escobar and take it down from the inside.There's no denying that the 1980s-set story of Bob Mazur is a riveting one and, given its basis in truth, one that should be told. It should end up as some sort of Scarface/Donnie Brasco hybrid but when all is said and done, The Infiltrator lacks the power of either.When Mazur gets close to Escobar's top lieutenant Roberto Alcaino (an excellent Benjamin Bratt), the emotions should've been running high and the scene set for a Greek tragedy but director Brad Furman's story is too on the level to resonate deeply.Put simply, The Infiltrator lacks emotion. It tells the story of an undercover agent who goes undercover and does his job quite well. It sidesteps true conflict and thus fails to stay memorable outside of the odd nicely photographed scene. Cranston gives it his all, further establishing his reputation as a dependable leading man. It's a shame that the rest of the film fails to match his ambition.