The Counselor (2013) - Film Review

Director: Ridley Scott

Starring: Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem, Cameron Diaz, Penelope Cruz, Dean Norris

Rating: Rated R for graphic violence, some grisly images, strong sexual content and language

A lawyer finds himself in over his head when he gets involved in drug trafficking.

                                                                  Initial Reaction:

With the recent release of films such as "Gravity" and "Captain Phillips" we are definitely in the swing of Oscar season. "The Counselor" was a film I heard about a while ago and was surprised to see very little advertisement for this movie. A film featured such a high profile actors (Pitt, Fassbender, Bardem, Diaz, and Cruz), and a talented director (Ridley Scott) I expected this to be a big film especially for Oscar season. It wasn't until last week that this film really got any marketing, it has pretty much been in hiding even failing to match the marketing of other new release "Bad Grandpa" that came out today. Even though I hadn't heard any news of it until this week, I was still optimistic for the film as with such capable people this couldn't disappoint. When negative reviews began coming in, that's when my doubt rose. These people are usually critic darlings, and the film to be getting downright negative reviews really shocked me. Despite the negative reviews, I had to see the film for myself and after seeing it, the critics were right. This movie was terrible, one of the most disappointing films I have seen in a long time. Everything from the directing, to the acting, to the story was just terrible. This is definitely one of the worst films I have seen all year.

                                                                      Plot: (1.5/5)

If you read the IMDB synopsis it reads "A lawyer finds himself in over his head when he gets involved in drug trafficking" and if you didn't read that synopsis prior to watching the film you wouldn't have known that's what it was about. The film is all over the place, featuring so many tangents in the story that the film ended up wanting to be about so much and ended up being nothing. The story never chooses a straight path to go on and you end up more confused in anything to what's going on in the story. The characters in this film are unlikable as well, they are all presented in such vague and mysterious ways that they want you to be intrigued about the characters but you never find one to care about making everything that happens boring and uninteresting. This story had potential if it would have been what the IMDB synopsis said it was about because the few instances we see that in the story it actually had potential, but the story never gives that the chance to step up to the plate. Its easy to see that the film had a message to make about greed and the consequences that come with it, but that is even shorthanded by the end and ends up making the two hours we saw trying to get that point across pointless. Also Cameron Diaz has sex with a car, so yeah that happened.

                                                                  Directing: (2/5)

 Ridley Scott has proven time and time again that he is a very capable director churning hits such as ("Blade Runner" & "Alien") and even current films such as "Matchstick Men" which is one of my favorite films and I honestly don't know what happened here, but he definitely dropped the ball. The film is told very plain, and mysterious trying to make you intrigued by what's going on and it ends leaving you bored because there is no story to latch onto. The directing really felt like how high profile directors are accused of just sitting at a camera just filming with no real care or passion for the film, and it definitely feels like that when watching the film. The film is also written by a Pulitzer prize winning author in Cormac McCarthy ("No Country for Old Men" and "The Road") and his move from novels to film proved more disastrous than anything. The film is very dialogue heavy trying to get so much across that it ends becoming muddled. The actors weren't allowed to show their characters but have them said to each other through dialogue making the characters feel less believable and everything happening around them feel fake. They way this story wraps up doesn't even make sense, the way the film is paced out to its conclusion you're just left leaving cold after the film. This film has definitely left me on edge about seeing another film from any of these two guys.

                                                                     Acting: (2/5)

Ever since his breakout role as Magneto in "X-Men: First Class", Michael Fassbender has quickly became one of my favorite actors. He has proven through countless roles in different types of films such as "Shame" and "Prometheus" that he is very capable, but after this performance he has took the first real misstep in his career. If I had to describe the main character of this film I really couldn't, as he is pretty much a blank and Fassbender tries to add depth to this character but it comes off feeling forced more than anything. Fassbender being one of the main reasons I wanted to see this film, it kind of disappointing me to see him give this bad a performance. Javier Bardem was probably the worst to me, has character felt so fake and you could tell he was just phoning in the character. Speaking of phoning it in, Cameron Diaz tried to play this hardcore mob chick and it just didn't work. I'm all for actors trying something new in their career, but thats if they have the range to do it which Diaz doesn't have. The only who has half way good was Brad Pitt. I've realized no matter what film it is, you can always count on Pitt to at least give a good performance. He's the only one who seems like a real person. Penelope Cruz plays Fassbender's girlfriend and is really just the girl, she's given nothing to do but play off Fassbender so you are almost wondering why she's even in the movie. The film also features great actors (John Leguizamo, Dean Norris, and Rosie Perez) in the supporting cast and they all get like one scene. To get this entire group of people together it's just disappointing to see how bad they all drop the ball.

                                               Replay Ability/ Recommendation: (0/5)                        

  If I learned one thing from "The Counselor" is that no matter how high caliber the talent involved in making the film is, it doesn't guarantee the film to be good. In all my time of writing reviews I've never gave a 0 on recommendation as most of the time I can see someone watching the movies I review, but I honestly believe no one should see this movie. I want you to close your eyes and imagine doing something for 2 hours instead of watching "The Counselor", now open them whatever you just imagined no matter if its clean the bathroom, do your taxes, or go to wedding, it is time more well spent then watching this movie. "The Counselor" is without a doubt the worst film of 2013.

FINAL GRADE: (1.4/5) D