Starring: Bryan Cranston, Diane Kruger, Benjamin Bratt, John Leguizamo, Amy Ryan
Distributor: Roadshow Films
Runtime: 127 mins. Reviewed in Sep 2016
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Robert Mazur, a real-life US Customs agent charged with going undercover in an 80’s investigation into Pablo Escobar, shares a few traits with TV’s great antihero Walter White. Both men were played by an excellent, mustachioed Bryan Cranston. Both experienced a descent into a lawless and unpredictable world of crime. Both began to lose their grip on their family lives as a result of their choices. But while White’s narrative was worthy of the highest acclaim, Mazur’s scrapes through with decent marks, made disappointing by the richness of the source story.
A title card alerts the audience to the $400 million worth of cocaine entering the US from Colombia every week in the mid-80’s (a setting which allows director Brad Furman to whip out a collection of great songs and snazzy visuals). To establish Mazur’s credentials, we witness a sting at a bowling alley, during which a malfunctioning bug taped to Mazur’s chest almost derails the whole operation. But like a true professional, he pulls through with the arrest, and despite his resulting injury qualifying him for the paid retirement his wife desperately wants him to take, he moves onto his next role: Bob Musella, money launderer for the filthy rich Colombian cartel.
To infiltrate the criminal underworld, Mazur teams up with fellow undercover operative Emir (a convincingly slippery John Leguizamo, oozing an addiction to his exhilarating, treacherous career choice). As Mazur finds some traction, a slip-up sees him create a fake fiancé, and his US Customs handler Bonni (Amy Ryan) brings in rookie agent Kathy (Diane Kruger, adeptly conveying the rush of a novice discovering their own aptitude) to fill the role. As Mazur and Kathy form a relationship with one of Escobar’s US-based lieutenants, Roberto Alcaino (Benjamin Bratt, exuding charm), and a host of international banking figures, it is not only their lives that are on the line, but also their grasp on their own principles.
The danger than Mazur is in conveyed in no uncertain terms – threatening packages are sent to his home, a supposed meeting with a higher-up becomes a life or death, voodoo influenced job interview. Yet despite this, the danger never reals reaches a fever pitch. It simmers below the surface of the image, yet I was never truly convinced that bodily harm to our protagonists could actually eventuate. It’s just not that kind of film. What’s more, the culmination of the third act appears to dispose of all the murky morality which previously hounded Mazur’s genuine bonds formed with cartel members earlier in the film – their downfall becomes a black and white victory for the ‘good guys’, which jars with the earlier soul searching that Mazur has to do to convince himself of his deception’s morality and necessity.
‘The Infiltrator’ ultimately gets carried away by playing out its story as a straightforward thriller, and in the rush loses sight of what makes it compelling in the first instance. A strong cast elevates the finished product, but the story of Mazur could have turned out better.
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