cult film freak: RIDLEY SCOTT DIRECTS THE COUNSELOR

Written by James M. Tate / 10/26/2013 / 1 Comment / 2013 , brad pitt , cameron diaz , javier bardem , michael fassbender , neo noir , ridley scott

RIDLEY SCOTT DIRECTS THE COUNSELOR

10/26/2013 | 1 Comment

year: 2013 cast: Michael Fassbender, Javier Bardem, Cameron Diaz, Brad Pitt, Penélope Cruz rating: *1/2

In the prologue of Ridley Scott’s THE COUNSELOR, a bedroom scene leading to the opening credits is for mature audiences only – and extremely patient ones. It’s overlong and means close to nothing except what Michael Fassbender’s title character wants to do with Laura (Penélope Cruz), the all-engrossing love of his life… And that’s about as deep as the movie gets…

With two hours of treadmill conversations between The Counselor, a lawyer trying his hand at drug trafficking, and several people including sympathetic drug lord Reiner who, played by Javier Bardem, resembles a Spanish John Cassavetes with electro-shocked hair and Brad Pitt’s Westray, a roguish connection describing the dark future Counselor faces if things go wrong… And they do, pretty fast… at which point the music gets tenser but the pace, with a few ultra-violent deaths aside, continues in the same dull fashion…

Cameron Diaz, as Malkina, tries the hardest as an evil rich femme fatale with a penchant for bloodthirsty cheetahs, icy diatribes, surreptitious manipulation and double-crossing, but she lacks worthy prey. Even Fassbender’s Counselor, who risks everything... including the woman he loves... remains in sleep mode throughout, as the morally ambiguous main character ("way in over his head") is an essential part of the Film Noir/Neo Noir/Steamy Thriller template, but they must have something to lose – that the audience actually cares about... Ain't nothing here, folks.

Share This Post :

Tags : 2013 , brad pitt , cameron diaz , javier bardem , michael fassbender , neo noir , ridley scott

James M. Tate

1 comment:

Ripper MadnessNovember 12, 2013 at 10:29 PM
I've been home from the movie now for 6 hours and I can imagine a darkened movie theater, everyone has long gone home, the projector flickers to life flashing blurred images upon the screen. It doesn't matter who it is, the images are not important, what is important, is that the images are static, and all they do is talk talk talk talk talk. This movie shouldn't be called THE COUNSELOR, it should be called THE CONVERSATIONS.

Great review.
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

FAVORITES SHORTLIST

1)OTLEY 2)HELL IS A CITY 3)ROBBERY 4)THE FEARMAKERS 5)CANYON PASSAGE 6)VIOLENT SATURDAY 7)HOT CARS 8)JUNGLE STREET 9)THE CROWDED SKY 10)THE ROARING TWENTIES 11) ANATOMY OF A MURDER 12)SHARKS' TREASURE 13)SWEENEY TWO 14)RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA 15)HARDCORE 16)THE BREAK 17)WHITE HEAT 18)AL CAPONE 19)HIDDEN FEAR 20)FALLEN ANGEL 21)NIGHT CREATURES 22)THE ASPHALT JUNGLE 23)ASH WEDNESDAY 24)THE SYSTEM 25)AIR PATROL 26)THE STONE KILLER 27)EASY LIVING 28)WILLIAM CONRAD'S BRAINSTORM 29)FRENZY 30)THE MAN FROM LARAMIE 1)DANA ANDREWS 2)JAMES CAGNEY 3)STANLEY BAKER 4)MARLON BRANDO 5)CHARLES BRONSON1)VIRGINIA MAYO 2)SUE LYON 3)GENE TIERNEY 4)MERRY ANDERS 5)FAYE DUNAWAY DIRECTORS 1)JACQUES TOURNEUR 2)RICHARD FLEISCHER 3)VAL GUEST 4)STANLEY KUBRICK 5)OTTO PREMINGER 6)ORSON WELLES 7)JOHN GUILLERMAN 8)JOHN LANDIS 9)JOHN CARPENTER 10)MICHAEL WINNER