STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
During the 1980s, the Medellin cartel funnelled a limitless supply of drugs through the port of Miami. Robert Mazur (Bryan Cranston) was an undercover agent, who assumed an identity as a mob member who conceived a clever plan for the criminals to move their ill gotten gains through the channels, and grew close to the top members of the Medellin hierarchy as he went along, but his position took an inevitable toll on his marriage to wife Evelyn (Juliet Aubrey) and placed his life in a constant state of danger.
The limitless supply of true life crime stories from the archive of the 1980s flashes up once again with this expose of another crime scandal. Lead star Cranston appears to be one of the stars who found fame later in life, and made the biggest impression in the TV drama Breaking Bad, which I never caught. And so, this would seem to be the piece where I caught him for the first time, and he certainly has the presence to carry this role through. The film plays in a similar vein to 1997's Donnie Brasco, and those who enjoyed that film will be on pleasingly similar ground here.
Director Brad Furman helms proceedings in a manner that will have become familiar to those who catch a great deal of present day crime thrillers, in a gritty, uncompromising manner, only by unflinchingly honing in on the predicament of Mazur's situation, rather than on any gratuitous blood letting scenes, in particular a harrowing scene in a restaurant where he's forced to make an example of a poor, innocent waiter to keep face in front of a mob pal. But it all builds up to a satisfying pay-off in the end, and you'll be glad you stuck with it.
Aside from Cranston, there is a wonderful supporting cast, including the likes of John Leguizamo, Daniel Mays and Joseph Gilgun to keep the ship floating. Not that the juicy, shattering revelations of the 1980's crime scene won't be enough. ****
During the 1980s, the Medellin cartel funnelled a limitless supply of drugs through the port of Miami. Robert Mazur (Bryan Cranston) was an undercover agent, who assumed an identity as a mob member who conceived a clever plan for the criminals to move their ill gotten gains through the channels, and grew close to the top members of the Medellin hierarchy as he went along, but his position took an inevitable toll on his marriage to wife Evelyn (Juliet Aubrey) and placed his life in a constant state of danger.
The limitless supply of true life crime stories from the archive of the 1980s flashes up once again with this expose of another crime scandal. Lead star Cranston appears to be one of the stars who found fame later in life, and made the biggest impression in the TV drama Breaking Bad, which I never caught. And so, this would seem to be the piece where I caught him for the first time, and he certainly has the presence to carry this role through. The film plays in a similar vein to 1997's Donnie Brasco, and those who enjoyed that film will be on pleasingly similar ground here.
Director Brad Furman helms proceedings in a manner that will have become familiar to those who catch a great deal of present day crime thrillers, in a gritty, uncompromising manner, only by unflinchingly honing in on the predicament of Mazur's situation, rather than on any gratuitous blood letting scenes, in particular a harrowing scene in a restaurant where he's forced to make an example of a poor, innocent waiter to keep face in front of a mob pal. But it all builds up to a satisfying pay-off in the end, and you'll be glad you stuck with it.
Aside from Cranston, there is a wonderful supporting cast, including the likes of John Leguizamo, Daniel Mays and Joseph Gilgun to keep the ship floating. Not that the juicy, shattering revelations of the 1980's crime scene won't be enough. ****