I am a big fan of Cormac McCarthy's novels. I have read them all, from the bizarre and somewhat slow Suttree to All the Pretty Horses to The Road. I am also a big fan of the movie versions of No Country for Old Men and The Road. I consider Brad Pitt to be one of our finest American actors and Javier Bardem has done some excellent work as well.
With all this in mind, I was anticipating The Counselor to be superb.
It wasn't.
Yes, there were some amazing plot twists, gritty violence and good acting. Yes there was wisdom in some of the lines, especially by Ruben Blades and the diamond merchant in Amsterdam. But all in all, it is underwhelming. I could not buy into the motivations of the main character - the Counselor - and wanted to know why he needed to get involved in this deal in the first place. I assumed it was his lavish lifestyle (sports cars, tailored suits, 4-karat engagement rings, etc), but why not tell us? I ended up not really caring what happened to him. Brad Pitt did his best in a limited role, but there wasn't much there to sink his teeth into. Bardem was actually funny in a wasted and weirded-out way, but this was certainly no Anton Chigurh for him.
Penelope Cruz and Cameron Diaz...meh. Michael Fassbender... meh.
I don't know who to blame - the scriptwriter Cormac McCarthy or the director Ridley Scott. Probably both.
With all this in mind, I was anticipating The Counselor to be superb.
It wasn't.
Yes, there were some amazing plot twists, gritty violence and good acting. Yes there was wisdom in some of the lines, especially by Ruben Blades and the diamond merchant in Amsterdam. But all in all, it is underwhelming. I could not buy into the motivations of the main character - the Counselor - and wanted to know why he needed to get involved in this deal in the first place. I assumed it was his lavish lifestyle (sports cars, tailored suits, 4-karat engagement rings, etc), but why not tell us? I ended up not really caring what happened to him. Brad Pitt did his best in a limited role, but there wasn't much there to sink his teeth into. Bardem was actually funny in a wasted and weirded-out way, but this was certainly no Anton Chigurh for him.
Penelope Cruz and Cameron Diaz...meh. Michael Fassbender... meh.
I don't know who to blame - the scriptwriter Cormac McCarthy or the director Ridley Scott. Probably both.
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