An unnamed Counselor is going into a big deal with a couple of crooks (played by Javier Bardem and Brad Pitt) only to have a drug deal unravels after the counselor gets the son of a female drug kingpin out of jail.  For some reason, the drug kingpin believes that the counselor and his associates are to blame for the death of her son and the drug shipment vanishing.  Soon the counselor, his wife/ girlfriend (Penlope Cruz), Brad Pitt, and a crazy drug dealer (Javier Bardem) all become targets as they try to escape their fates while Cameron Diaz (she plays Javier’s way too smart girlfriend he is scared of due to her being smarter than him) looks on like she is smarter than the rest of them.

 

THE COUNSELOR sounded like a great idea on paper to have a script by Cormac McCarthy and have it directed by Ridley Scott and even the trailer looks good (but it shows the best moments), but the movie is a muddled mess that sometimes even tries the audience’s intelligence as THE COUNSELOR tries and fails to be a transcendental crime drama.  The movie has some great scenes and some gruesome death scenes in addition to a great as always performance from Michael Fassbender, but I think they needed to connect the dots more with the story as you will be scratching your head over the story’s plot holes more than some people did with PROMETHEUS (which I love despite its flaws).   THE COUNSELOR ends up being a disappointment for fans of Ridley Scott and fans of any actors involved as I wish someone told Cormc McCarthy and Ridley Scott and Cormac McCarthy to craft a more coherent film instead of a series of coincidences   engineered by one of the main characters.  Sometimes you think the characters are going to dig themselves out of the hole they dug only to come away disappointed.  I say you shouldn’t buy the movie or see in theaters.  Rent it if you need to since THE COUNSELOR just will fail to connect with audiences.

 

This movie review is ©10-28-2013 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

 

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