REVIEW: The Infiltrator (2016)

The following is a quick review of The Infiltrator – Directed by Brad Furman.

The Infiltrator tells the story of how Robert Mazur helped bust Pablo Escobar’s money-laundering organization. In the film Mazur (played by Bryan Cranston) goes undercover as ‘Bob Musella’ with his partner, Emir (played by John Leguizamo), and a rookie undercover agent, Kathy (played by Diane Kruger).

Even though I ended up really liking The Infiltrator, I have to admit that it’s not going to be particularly memorable. There isn’t anything all that new – fresh – or innovative here. The Infiltrator is just another ‘good’ and ‘enjoyable’ film in a extremely crowded subgenre. Thus it is pretty similar to another Brad Furman film that I really enjoyed: The Lincoln Lawyer.

Like The Lincoln Lawyer, there is a lot to like about The Infiltrator. It is well-paced, well-shot, and it isn’t too tense – it actually has a couple of funny scenes. It’s also got a great cast, and most, if not all of them, give good or great performances.

Diane Kruger and John Leguizamo are both great, but Bryan Cranston gives the best performance – probably the best performance he’s given since Breaking Bad ended. It’s also just pretty fun to see Cranston work for the government after having played Walter White for all those years.

Does it have issues? Definitely, and they are the reasons why The Infiltrator won’t be on everyone’s top ten lists for 2016. I think Cranston’s performance – and, really, all of the solid performances – makes up for those issues, to an extent.

There are some scenes that make the film a little bit confusing, and the final wedding scene rubbed me the wrong way. However, then you got these really great scenes in which Cranston gets to really shine, including one where he fears for the safety of his family and then starts yelling at a waiter for writing the wrong thing on a cake. Yeah, really.

7.9 out of 10

– Jeffrey Rex