Friday, October 25, 2013

The Counselor

So yeah, I went into The Counselor pretty much solely for Michael Fassbender, but outside of his involvement, I really wasn't looking forward to this movie at all. It just looked really bland and generic to me. And so, despite so many dependable names being attached, I remained mostly reserved going into this thing, and the fact that early word has already been pretty negative had further lowered my expectations. However, I must say that this movie was quite a pleasant surprise, and very much plays out almost like a modern day Shakespeare piece.

Michael Fassbender plays a lawyer who's only ever referred to as Counselor, and he gets involved in a drug trafficking scheme down in Mexico that quickly becomes more than he can handle, resulting in a huge mess for everyone involved. The movie plays with themes of both love and greed, and how these two things can come back to bite you if you're not prepared for what you're getting yourself into. And the way this movie approaches both subjects as a whole through its dialogue is almost seamlessly interchangeable. In fact, the movie is very dialogue heavy, and it was early on that it really pulled me in with the very Shakespearean tempo of the delivery and sensibilities of the conversations at hand, which I found to be really endearing. And once I was able to approach the film from that perspective, I found myself really digging the hell out of it from that point on.

I mentioned before how there were a lot of talented names attached to this project, and they all really come forward to add their contribution in making this thing work. Ridley Scott's solid direction truly complimented Cormac McCarthy's smart and clever script, and the acting all around was really good as well. In addition to Fassbender, the film also stars Penelope Cruz, Brad Pitt, and Javier Bardem, who all brought the goods and really worked well together on screen. But surprisingly enough, the one who really stole the show here was Cameron Diaz, playing the super-sexualized manipulator who really is the driving force of this plot. It's not the most subtle of roles, but damn does she dive right in and really make you believe that she's this cold, calculating bitch.

While the film definitely maintains a theatrical vibe with the way most of its dialogue heavy settings play out, there is a little bit of action at play here as well. There's not a whole lot of it, but when the violence happens, the movie gets in, gets it over with, and gets out, but in that short amount of time, this thing gets really bloody and brutal really fast. There's gunfights that don't last too long, but it doesn't take long for blood to start spraying, either. Not to mention the graphic beheadings that are on display. So yeah, certainly not a film for the squeamish.

So I ended up really liking the hell out of this movie, though there are a few things that I could nitpick it for. For instance, there's probably an overuse of extreme closeups on people's faces throughout, which became noticeable, though wasn't necessarily a detractor, even if some of the shots felt a bit uninspired. And there are scenes where Fassbender is talking to his fiance on the phone, but we can only hear his half of the conversation, leaving gaps of silence where she would be speaking. This wouldn't be a problem, except for the fact that throughout the rest of the movie whenever someone's talking on the phone, we're able to hear both ends of the conversation, so it took me out of the movie a bit during these scenes, and left me wondering if perhaps something was wrong with the sound in the theater. But really, like I said, that's all really nitpicky, and outside of those sorts of things, there's really nothing too much I can harp on this movie for.

It's a bit of a long one, but, again, after I was able to take the movie as a modern Shakespearean work, I was able to roll with the run time. And it remains ever intriguing all throughout, with interesting anecdotes and poetic insights that'll leave you thinking. I really didn't expect to be this impressed by this movie, but sure enough, behind the great collaboration of minds at work behind the camera and the strong performances on screen that really sold the material, I gotta say that The Counselor was pretty damn well done.

16 comments:

  1. I knew we would end up not seeing eye to eye eventually. Lol. ;)

    I just got back from seeing it. I thought it had great performances (Fassbender and Bardem), a slick look, and some deaths that would rival a horror film, but certain aspects of the story and dialog didn't sit well with me at all.

    It feels like this is one of those "you get it or you don't" or "you're into it or you're not" kind of films though. I guess I'm in the "don't/not" category this time. Hehe. :)

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    1. Hehe, that's alright, Erik. This is certainly one of those divisive movies, and it's one where I can definitely understand how some people might not like it. I just happened to dig the hell out of it and, while I recognize a lot of faults of the movie that in most other movies I'd be ragging against it for, for some reason, I personally just felt those aspects just happened to click this time around. But oh well though, at least we agree that the performances were great, lol. :)

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  2. Hey Chris, I am reading some mixed reviews on this one. I am reserving judgement until I check it out this weekend. But my expectations have been lowered a bit.

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    1. Yeah, it's certainly a divisive movie, but, as I mentioned above, it's one where I can certainly understand the divide, even though I personally liked it. But I ended up going in with lowered expectations myself and came out really liking this. Look forward to hearing your thoughts on the movie after you see it. :)

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  3. I just got back from seeing this film, and it was good to read your review because I'm having trouble really figuring out what I think of this film. Honestly, in a lot of ways it's a great movie, but I feel like the script probably needed a little work. Some of the dialogue was TOO philosophical, cryptic and "elevated", and it really detracted from the enjoyability of the film because it's already a bit difficult to follow all the twists and turns anyway. Also, the motivations of SOME of the characters really aren't drawn out very well, and certain things that happen almost seem random or pointless. Good review, though!

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    1. Thanks, man! :) And while I do disagree with a lot of your assessments, I can still totally see where you're coming from with them. This is just such a fascinating movie to me how that works, and it's one where it does a lot of things that in any other movie would probably annoy me, but for some reason, the way they played out here just worked so much for me. Hell, this is quickly becoming one of my favorites of the year the more it sinks in.

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  4. Good review Chris. While I will admit that the movie is messy, I will note that the cast at least saves this from being an utter-wreck of a movie to watch. Diaz obviously is out of her league, but everybody else does what they can with what they're given, and that's better than nothing at all.

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    1. Thanks, Dan, though I'll disagree about this movie being messy. Sure, there's aspects about it that would typically stand out in most other movies as detractors, but here they actually helped compliment the movie as a whole and what it was trying to accomplish I felt. Pretty much, remove all those elements and, sure, the movie may have a more "clean" feeling, but I honestly believe you'll also remove the heart and soul driving this thing in the process. I also thought Diaz was great, personally, surprisingly so.

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  5. Great review Chris! I still might give it a rent though I'm glad I didn't see this on the big screen as I'm pretty squeamish when it comes to blood and gore. Fassbender is the main draw for me as well, but I'm also a big fan of Ridley Scott.

    – ruth

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    1. Thanks, Ruth! Yeah, Fassbender's great in this, so he definitely brings the goods here (again!). And yeah, I definitely think Ridley Scott did a great job handling the material he was working with. You'll have to let me know what you think of it whenever you do get around to seeing it. :)

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  6. I'm glad I'm not the only one who liked the film. Definitely enjoyed this one a hell of a lot more than I expected to. Great review, as always.

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    1. Thanks, Whit! And glad to see that there's more of us out there who enjoyed this flick. I'll head on over in a bit to check out your full review of it. :)

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  7. Great review! This film was a little messy, but it had a lot of great stuff in it. Although, I think I need to see it again to completely make my mind up on it.

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    1. Thanks! And yeah, I'd definitely recommend a second viewing, as you'll pick up on A LOT of little subtleties that are easy to miss on that first go around. :)

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    2. Saw it for a second time, you're completely right. A lot of things made sense this time round too.

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    3. Nice, glad you ended up giving this one a second go. :)

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