Release Date: October 25, 2013
Director: Ridley Scott
MPAA Rating: R
Film Pulse Score: 3/10
Ridley Scott has had a varied career. I admit that he has made some masterpieces such as Alien and some great films such as Thelma & Louise, Black Hawk Down, and American Gangster. But he has made some truly overrated or disappointing films such as Gladiator, A Good Year, Body of Lies, Robin Hood, and Prometheus. No film comes close to being as derisible as his latest, The Counselor. With a generally top-notch cast, even a plotless film might succeed. However, Counselor does not do so in any conceivable way. It is a mishmash of sex and violence and long, dogmatic passages of dialogue about the meaning of grief, love, sex, life, greed, and much more; and yet it fails to say anything philosophically interesting.
What makes Counselor all the more disappointing is that the screenplay was written by Cormac McCarthy. One of our greatest American novelists has just proven that he cannot write a cohesive script. Films based on his terrific novels have made use of his dialogue – see the Coen Brothers’ Academy Award-winning No Country for Old Men which was filled with brilliant spoken passages. The Road was also a brilliantly adapted film of his equally-brilliant book. He should stick to his day-job writing and leave filmmaking to the adapters.
Since there is no real plot to speak of – the film is told more-or-less in vignette form – I will jump into the main characters. “The Counselor” is played by Michael Fassbender and he gives a perfectly fine performance in a thankless role in a near-terrible film. His girlfriend-then-wife Laura is played by the lovely and talented Penélope Cruz. Fassbender is involved in business with two friends – the drug business – the always-watchable (until this film) Javier Bardem is Reiner and the always-watchable (until this film) Brad Pitt is Westray. Finally, there is Reiner’s girlfriend, Malkina, played by a generally miscast Cameron Diaz who turns out to have much larger part in the story than her entrance would have us believe. Rosie Perez – an actress I like a lot – has a small but key role as one of the counselor’s former clients, Ruth.
The Counselor – which is all he’s ever called in the film – is driven by greed. Given that we know he was Ruth’s court-appointed attorney, we can assume he is a public defender and therefore a man who works long hours and receives little monetary compensation for his efforts. He wants more for himself and Laura, so his bottom-line is greed; that is what drives him. What drives Reiner’s drug-distribution activities is less clear, though he certainly seems to like nice things and being a power-player in the underworld that is illegal narcotic distribution. It is never really clear what Westray does or what his angle is, though we know he has money in offshore accounts and we can guess that he did not obtain his wealth in any legal way.
There are two things to take away from this film, other than the fact that McCarthy cannot write a good script . . . yet. First, if you are going to have the characters – and not just the main ones – deliver rather long, philosophical musings about life’s essentials, have them do so in a more entertaining way and one that paints a more vivid picture of what they are talking about. Second, this film needed a plot and needed one desperately. Now, I do not mind plot-free films; some of the greatest, genius cinematic films have not relied on plot to tell a story. But Counselor needed one. I believe this film will quickly fall into the bottomless pit that has been 2013 film releases, particularly from big studios. I shudder to think people will actually go see this movie or will enjoy it if they do. So, if you value my opinion at all, heed my pseudo-legal counsel and avoid this movie at all cost. If, however, you want to see some of today’s finest actors being underused, misused, abused, and just overall making asses out of themselves, by all means, get in line, buy a ticket, sit back, and enjoy!
