The Counselor Review: Greed is Bad

One of the coolest thing about Tarantino films is the voyeuristic sensation you get when watching elements from the underworld talk about everyday things. These arquetypes and their conversation aren’t necessary “realistic”, but they are believable in the universe they inhabit. For example in Pulp Fiction, the scene where Samuel L. Jackson’s Jules talks about changing his way of life, feels logical and true to a hit-man living in that distorted version of Los Angeles.

The Counselor (in theaters Oct.25), on the other hand, is set on our present world. It even looks much less stylized than Body of Lies and other Ridley Scott films. So when pretty much everybody starts to give dissertations on the meaning of life, it feels too forced and inorganic. As the movie progresses, those kinds of dialogues get more repetitive, pretentious and didactic.

For a cat and mouse thriller it is very predictable. All the players present themselves exactly as they really are, so no surprises there. It is also hard to really empathize with a protagonist in despair, when a parade of people have warned him the first half of the film about the things that he suffers the second half of it.

Other colorful moments that don’t advance the plot become more a distraction than a treat. While two fantastic Hispanic actors like Bardem and Cruz have the chance to shine, John Leguizamo and Edgar Ramirez have totally pointless cameos. Ruben Blades has the “honor” of having the last lecture about cause and consequence.

Like in Prometheus, Scott seems eager to explore and answer big questions about the human condition. But despite having a few memorable moments -like some creative deaths and a scene with Cameron Diaz on top of a sport car- The Counselor falls victim, like its main character, of its
own ambition.