"The Infiltrator" brings the story of undercover agent Robert Mazur. As the movie opens (with Rush's "Tom Sawyer" blasting away), we are reminded that it is "Tampa, Florida 1985", and we see Mazur at work, in what turns out the be the last phase of an undercover job. Due to his length of service, Maruz is offered the possibility to retire with full benefits. Instead, to the dismay of his wife Ev, he decides to take on one more job, far more complicated and dangerous than he ever imagined. As this point we're not even 15 minutes into the movie, but to tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.
Couple of comments: this movie is directed by Brad Furman, who previously brought us the Matthew McConaughey-fronted thriller "The Lincoln Lawyer". Screenplay is by Ellen Brown Furman (I imagine related to the director, but don't know for a fact). This is a narco crime drama that is essentially "The Sting" on steroids: can Maruz (in his undercover role as Bob Musella) and his rookie partner Kathy Ertz pull off a sting of gigantic proportions, right under the noses of the feared Colombia drug cartel of Pablo Escobar? As you have probably noted, the connection with Pablo Escobar is played up in the movie's marketing materials. The reality is that Escobar is perhaps hovering over the movie in spirit, but the movie in fact is a lot more about what happened with BCCI (the UK's Bank of Credit and Commerce International), the 7th largest private bank at that time. (And if you are looking for a true Escobar crime drama, check out "Escobar: Paradise Lost", starring Benicio Del Toro and Josh Hutcherson.) "The Infiltrator" has many great moments, and is tense almost from the get-go. Bryan Cranston, on the heels of the excellent "Trumbo" last year (but still best known for his work on TV's "Breaking Bad"), delivers yet another winning performance. But the big surprise for me was the outstanding work from Diane Kruger as the rookie undercover partner. She is superb (aside from being superbly beautiful). Lots of great songs throughout the movie, including The Who's "Eminence Front", which plays not once but twice in the movie!
"The Infiltrator" opened this weekend and I couldn't wait to see it. The Friday evening screening where I saw this at here in Cincinnati was attended very nicely, somewhat to my (pleasant) surprise. I found "The Infiltrator" to be a riveting narco crime-drama, the likes of which we don't get to see enough, and would encourage you to check it out, be it in theaters, on VOD or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray. "The Infiltrator" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
