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Created Jul 23, 2016 06:51PM PST • Edited Apr 30, 2024 02:52PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Really Great 4.5

   Coke culture from its Eighties heyday comes alive in The Infiltrator, a biopic that profiles the Medellin Cartel’s apparent money launderer. This guy lived la vida loca in all its money grubbing, slimy glory.

   Bryan Cranston is nails as real-life U.S. Customs agent Robert Mazur, who went deep undercover as Pablo Escobar’s banking liaison, the best job ever. Yes, it really happened, minus some Hollywood hyperbole.

   Cranston’s acting tour-de-force ranks with those of Sean Penn, Michael Shannon or Russell Crowe in the pantheon of leading men. He’s impressively joined by John Leguizamo, Diane Kruger and Benjamin Bratt.

   The Infiltrator tells an important story from not that long ago, in bravura style, has more than a few thrills and a panoply of stellar performances. It’s easily one of the best pictures of this year and about its 80s era.

4. Acting

   Really Great 4.5

   Bryan Cranston has become one of the must-see actors working today, here playing a good man – U.S. Customs agent Robert Mazur – living a double life – Bob Musella, money launderer for the Medellin Cartel. Cranston’s late career elevation to the top rank of acting is an encouragement to all of us who have experienced more than half a century of life. Nevermind Breaking Bad, his recent big-screen turns in Argo and even Godzilla prove that he’s never less than compelling, with the rare ability to also be wryly funny.

   Key Costars

   • John Leguizamo is characteristically quicksilver as a streetwise undercover agent. Interestingly, Leguizamo is set to play Escobar himself in El Patron next year.
   • Diane Kruger is by turns straight-laced, sexy and savvy as a newby to the undercover game.
   • Benjamin Bratt is characteristically smooth as one of Escobar’s generals. Elena Anaya is lovely and calculating as his wife. She should be a bigger star, as I noted in reviewing The Skin I Live In.

   Excellent Supporting Cast

   • Amy Ryan is hard and strong as U.S. Customs honcho Bonni Tischler.
   • Olympia Dukakis is a lip-smacking treat as a rich meddler of an Aunt.
   • Jason Issacs lends his heroic visage as a U.S. Attorney.

5. Male Stars Perfect 5.0

6. Female Stars Really Great 4.5

7. Female Costars Really Great 4.5

8. Male Costars Great 4.0

10. Film

    Great 4.0

    Brad Furman directed this stellar film from a screenplay written by his mom, Ellen Furman. Go figure. This is a story that most sons wouldn’t even want to see with their moms. Anyway, she worked from Robert Mazur’s book about his exploits as a U.S. Customs agent.

    Notable Credits

    • 15 stunts
    • 8 showgirls
    • Dozens of drivers

11. Direction Really Great 4.5

12. Play Great 4.0

13. Music Really Great 4.5

    Opens with Rush’s Tom Sawyer and closes with the Who’s Eminence Front. We salute you!

14. Visuals Great 4.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Sordid 3.0

    The Medellin Cartel was infamous for their savage brutality, in real life and even more so in movies about them. The Infiltrator doesn’t take this as far as others have (e.g., Scarface), but it’s not for the squeamish.

17. Sex Titillating 2.0

18. Violence Brutal 3.4

19. Rudeness Profane 3.5

21. Reality

    Glib 1.3

    Federal Agent Bob Mazur laid law enforcement’s first glove on BCCI, the corrupt bank for coke dealers, gun runners and terrorists. The guy’s a hero, which would matter way less if his biopic weren’t really great.

    Really great it is, but it also plays fast and loose with the facts of the case, as detailed in History-vs-Hollywood.com on The Infiltrator.

    Mazur does get credit with scoring the first blow against BCCI, as described in Wikipedia on the investigation that began BCCI’s downfall.

    Finally, Robert Mazur’s site on the movie is also of note.

22. Circumstantial Glib 2.0

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0