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| The Infiltrator -Not a bad Donnie Brasco want-to-be. |
Written by: Ellen Sue Brown (screenplay), Robert Mazur (based on the book by)
Directed by: Brad Furman
Starring: Bryan Cranston, John Leguizamo, Diane Kruger, Amy Ryan, Jason Isaacs
Rated: R
My rating is simple, Watch It, It Depends, Skip it. Read my previous movie reviews!
Plot
U.S. Customs agent, Robert Mazur (Bryan Cranston), goes undercover to infiltrate money launderers and drug smugglers, working his way up to the top tiers of the cartel.
Verdict
This is a two hour sting operation. Mazur goes deep undercover, but begins to lose himself in the role. Cranston does a great job as always, and while this doesn't set the bar for undercover movies, it's a solid offering.
Watch it.
Review
Any undercover movie gets compared to Donnie Brasco (1997). While The Infiltrator hits a lot of the same notes, it pales in comparison, but that doesn't make it bad.
It's more character study than action with Cranston making this character interesting, but it never has the impact of Donnie Brasco.
This has a great opener with Mazur presumably undercover on a drug buy with Rush's Tom Sawyer as the soundtrack. While we don't realize what's happening at first, Mazur's microphone malfunctions, burning his skin. He was knuckling through it because he gets the job done.
Mazur decides to target the money instead of the drugs. This is the height of the war on drugs after all. While he prefers to work alone, he is saddled with a new partner that has a Mexico connection. Abreu is played to great effect by John Leguizamo.
With any undercover movie, the protagonist is always on the brink of getting caught. That's the underlying tension throughout, but Mazur decided to go undercover again despite the protests of his wife and the fact that he could have retired. It's the she just doesn't understand trope as Mazur tries to balance what always ends up being two lives.
Mazur makes the mistake of saying he has a fiance to avoid a prostitute. This leads to securing another agent, Kathy (Diane Kruger) who is a rookie of course, to be his fiance. It was a bit too on the nose that she's assigned to the case on the same day of his anniversary. Better yet Mazur takes his wife out and is spotted by one of his associates. He goes off the handle presumably so that his wife is horrified at the monster he has become and to widen that rift.
Why would you go out in public? Why operate in the same city in which you live?
Mazur never really loses who he is to the degree we see in Donnie Brasco. Cranston as Mazur is just going through the motions, and thus so are we.
Mazur goes deeper down the rabbit hole, and the script employs his pretend wedding as a way to bring all of his criminal associates together. That was a nice touch. As always, Mazur and Kathy had lost themselves in their roles and formed friendships. They have a job to do, but it doesn't make them feel any less guilty that they sold out their "friends", people that had invited them into their homes and trusted them.
This really feels like a Donnie Brasco for anyone that hasn't seen it or forgot it.
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