Review: The Infiltrator (2016)

My ratingIMDbRotten Tomatoes
CriticsAudienceCriticsAudience
8/1066/1007.5/1066%78%
Numbers obtained from IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes on July 18, 2016.

Negotiating with drug dealers, setting up a money laundry scheme, living a double live. I could be talking about the TV show Breaking Bad, starring Bryan Cranston, but I’m actually talking about his new movie The Infiltrator. As you can see, there are some resemblances to the great TV show. In this film, however, I was actually rooting for his character to succeed.

Based on true events, The Infiltrator tells the story of US Customs official Robert Mazur (Bryan Cranston), who has the mission to uncover a money-laundering scheme involving Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. In order to do so, he and other agent Emir Abreu (John Leguizamo) have to pretend they’re actually working with the drug dealers, so they can get everything on tape and find out who is involved in the scheme.

I could go on and say wonderful things about Bryan Cranston’s performance, but I believe everyone who has seen him before (either on TV, movie or theater) knows how incredibly talented he is. I was a little worried his character would be too similar to Walter White, from Breaking Bad, but he’s able to add nuances to each of his characters to make them different from the others. Here we see a man deeply in love with his wife and protective of his children, but he’s willing to give up this part of his life a little bit and pretend he’s someone else, even engaged with another agent (Diane Kruger).

The film is very tense in the sense that you always think something bad will happen that will blow up his cover. The entire cast is great, which just adds to the tension. I must admit I thought it was a little longer than necessary. Also, I didn’t like much the song during the final scene – it just sounded like they’re trying too hard to make a heroic song.

All in all, it’s a good movie specially if you like this kind of infiltrated spy storyline – with great actors. 

Finally, I was able to see the red carpet in New York! So I’ll leave you with some pictures from the premiere!

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