Considering the people involved, The Counselor is a disappointing movie. Although directed by Ridley Scott (Black Hawk Down), written by 80-year-old Cormac McCarthy (No Country for Old Men) and starring Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz and Javier Bardem, it is hard to recommend seeing it. However, it does have its moments, but usually unpleasant ones. How often can you see Diaz (or a very flexible double) make love to a car?

Fassbender plays the title character, a respectable lawyer who is good at getting people off, who decides to get into a huge drug deal with Bardem (once again with laughable hair), despite being warned of the dangers by Pitt.

Cruz plays Fassbender’s loving girlfriend and Diaz is Bardem’s not so loving girlfriend with a nasty agenda.

The first half of the movie is talk, talk, talk. The only relief is the details of how a huge load of drugs is cleverly hidden inside a honey wagon. And there is a somewhat confusing trail of murders as the drugs are moved from Mexico to Chicago. However, as the talk subsides and the action increases, the movie becomes less boring and more distasteful.

There is a sense of doom hanging over the characters, especially Fassbender, and even the whole film. Several main characters die unpleasant and sometimes especially bloody deaths. You leave the theatre almost thankful it is over, and feeling this thriller is a real misfire.

Rating: two deer out of five

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Alf Cryderman is a Red Deer freelance writer and old movie buff.