ThiefHott Too much of everything

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Tymon Sutton The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

hrkepler 'The Infiltrator' feels more like quality made for television movie rather than high quality cinematic piece. The story is straight forward and the outcome is predictable, the film is void of any sort of style, and there isn't much thrills or tension. That doesn't mean the film was bad, on the contrary - it was quite good. But that's it - quite good. Considering the source material, and talented cast (who all were superb) 'The Infiltrator' could have been much more. Besides Bryan Cranston's amazing performance as undercover agent Robert Mazur, there isn't much else memorable.

becclark I LOVE Bryan Cranston and I really really wanted to like this movie. It was just not good....at all.

Asif Khan (asifahsankhan) Once Breaking Bad was over, Bryan Cranston became a somewhat unlikely Hollywood leading man scoring an instant Best Actor nomination for the biopic drama Trumbo.He's returning to his secretive crime sweet-spot with The Infiltrator but instead of playing the crook, he takes on the role as an undercover cop looking to break into a massive drug cartel that stretches all the way to Pablo Escobar and take it down from the inside.There's no denying that the 1980s-set story of Bob Mazur is a riveting one and, given its basis in truth, one that should be told. It should end up as some sort of Scarface/Donnie Brasco hybrid but when all is said and done, The Infiltrator lacks the power of either.When Mazur gets close to Escobar's top lieutenant Roberto Alcaino (an excellent Benjamin Bratt), the emotions should've been running high and the scene set for a Greek tragedy but director Brad Furman's story is too on the level to resonate deeply.Put simply, The Infiltrator lacks emotion. It tells the story of an undercover agent who goes undercover and does his job quite well. It sidesteps true conflict and thus fails to stay memorable outside of the odd nicely photographed scene. Cranston gives it his all, further establishing his reputation as a dependable leading man. It's a shame that the rest of the film fails to match his ambition.

secondtake The InfiltratorIn some ways this might seem like a straight up crime and drugs movie, with Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston in the leading role. But these true events and actual characters take you to the top of a government effort to undercut the money laundering operations of the biggest cartel of all.And Cranston is great. Around him is a really strong cast, including some disreputable types from all around. The pressures are huge, and the tension believable as people question who they can trust. Because to go undercover requires people helping you keep your cover, and that's increasingly hard because the money, and the low price of a life, are constant pressures.The movie is based in Florida in the 1980s, and it's a weird place to revisit. Diane Kruger is a great, relaxed presence once she shows up, and John Leguizamo is terrific as a sidekick, essential to the energy of the film.There some problems, for sure, with compacting the plot or characterizing Escobar. Or making the private life of the main agent so easily intertwined with the undercover world—they should be states apart. But never mind the quibbles. A strong, commanding movie.