THE COUNSELLOR

SYNOPSIS One man’s choices lead to devastating consequences When, on paper, you see the combination of Ridley Scott and Cormac McCarthy collaborating on a film you cannot help but get excited. What seemed so promising on paper, however, seems to have taken a decidedly more mundane turn in reality. Performance-wise the cast do their best with the material they are provided with. Michael Fassbender tries to show the pain and turmoil as the titular Counsellor (we never find out his real name) and comes close to achieving this. Cameron Diaz plays Malkina with a steely, almost emotionless, air that provides a genuine dislike with the audience and the lurking sense of real evil. Then there is Javier Brandem, who has the great misfortune to play a character (Reiner) with some of the stupidest lines in the film (quite an achievement in this film). Brad Pitt’s Westray meanwhile is so forgettable as to be pretty much superfluous to the film. Penelope Cruz manages, and this is quite an achievement for someone with her looks, to blend into the background. Both of these problems are, to be fair, more to do with their character’s role in the narrative rather than their respective performances. No, the problems with this film can only be laid at one door - the script. McCarthy has written for a visual medium before but it was for television (as well as being some time ago). What we get from this screenplay is strange dialogue that (for the most part) is not only pointless but just sounds strange coming from drug cartel leaders and crime bosses. There is one scene in particular that I am convinced read great on paper but which fails spectacularly on screen. I am referring, of course, to Malkina’ already infamous sex act with a sports car, probably the most un-erotic sex scene to come out of Hollywood in some time (and it does nothing to help the resale value of the car). The plot two feels pretty hollow, it’s like window dressing to give the characters an excuse to talk about morality, sex, consequences and more sex. There is also (in my opinion) quite a glaring hole in the narrative. Midway through something takes place which makes the rest of the film pretty much pointless, except we, the audience, still have to sit through it. FINAL VERDICT 5/10 a case of what might have been, this is all dressed up with nowhere to go.