The Counsellor.

                          The Counsellor. Film Review.

"To aspire to the stone's endless destiny. Isn't that the meaning of adornment? To enhance the beauty of the beloved is to acknowledge both her frailty and the nobility of that frailty."



Star-studded actors: Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender, Cameron Diaz, Penelope Cruz and of course husband, Javier Bardem, wonderful scenery of Texas and California from the acclaimed writer Cormac McCarthy who made his screenwriting debut here with his wit, dark humour and a nightmarish scenario with graphic images more akin to horror. Well it is an 18 and not suitable for children. McCarthy is seen as one of the greatest American living authors. You may remember "No Country For Old Men" (2007) which left me cold, also starring Bardem as the baddie, Anton Chigurh who embodied pure evil. "The Road" (2009) was just as bleak. McCarthy's trademark is the frequent use of graphic violence which includes disturbing details and I mean disturbing.

Directed by Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner and Gladiator fame). Scott's brother committed suicide during filming and the film was dedicated to the memory of Tony Scott. The plot is straightforward and touches on themes connected to morality, love, ambition savagery and man's greed for power and wealth. If you are a McCarthy fan you probably belong to an educated, elitist group, lost in translation springs to mind adapting the novel into a screenplay/film. The film isn't successful in spite of these famous actors, too many things happen behind the scenes and the characters are thrown together to deliver philosophical statements about the nature of mankind, greed or simply, bloodlust, monologues that you might see in Shakespeare, out of place here.


"Greed really takes you to the edge, doesn't it?" spoken by the Femme Fatale, Malkina, unconvincing as  the lover of an eccentric playboy Reiner. Cameron Diaz represents  pure evil ; she will kill for drugs equating to wealth. She hires her hitmen of course, indulges in kinky sex with a Ferrari and will stop at nothing to get what she wants. The scene at confession when she tries to turn the young Priest on is creepy. She gets turned on by watching her two pet cheetahs chasing jackrabbits in the desert: " The hunter has grace, beauty and purity of heart to be found nowhere else." The cheetahs or Malkina herself?

The Counsellor, Fassbender is a lawyer with a beautiful girlfriend, Laura (Penelope Cruz) and he travels to Amsterdam to buy a beautiful diamond ring for his beloved. We are meant to believe that he aspires to the playboy image and suffers the sin of avarice. Unfortunately, he is naïve and gets involved with Reiner, Westray (Pitt, meant to be the shifty facilitator) and dubious and dangerous business associates in drug trafficking from Mexico to the USA. Very dangerous and risky. He fails to listen to some sensible advice and things turn out really nasty with double dealings and betrayals. This could have been a Greek tragedy. His flaw is his greed to finance his burgeoning lifestyle. A fatal flaw, no less.


Four drums are loaded onto a truck containing 625 kilos of drugs (cocaine) worth about 20 million dollars. In one of them is the decaying corpse of an illegal immigrant, put there as a sick joke. These barrels of cocaine are hidden in a full sewage tanker but when the vehicle is sabotaged it leaves in its wake plenty of bloody corpses. Se Fue.

Reiner, Westray and the Counsellor are on their way down, actually on their way out. "Headless body baffles police." If you think this scene is gruesome involving The Green Hornet wait until you see the Bolito in action in the streets of London. It can cut a person's head off-the wire cuts through the carotid arteries. Not a pleasant sight. Be warned. Mexican cartels had a vicious reputation and a lust for blood and guts.

Monsters are created. McCarthy's world shows a nihilistic bleakness; it certainly comes across as a bloody tale of betrayal and retribution, it explodes with violence from start to finish. Don't try counting the dead, mutilated bodies. It'll give you nightmares.

 REVIEW it by Carol Naylor.

 Copyright 2014. Permission must be obtained from the author before any of this article review is reproduced.

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