Based upon a real operation in the 1980’s, The Infiltrator is edgy and tense, with
periodic earsplitting bloody horrors that make you jump out of your seat. (After about the sixth time, this gets
to seem like an annoying cinematic trick, to quiet the screen before an
explosive blast that kills someone.) Despite this little annoyance, the story
is exciting and well told by Director Brad Furman and writer Ellen Sue Brown
(book by Robert Mazur). It is
fascinating to see the day-to-day planning and execution of such an operation,
and the film is especially good at showing us the binds secret agents must
undergo in forming close alliances with criminals only to betray them. The agony and thrills also come as they
act out their made-up personas and have close calls, such as a recording device
being discovered.
Bob Mazur (Cranston) has had a long career in
U.S. Customs as a special agent.
He is eligible to retire, but is always staying on for “one last
job.” This operation is to
infiltrate Pablo Escobar’s Colombian Medellin Cartel to interrupt the flow of
cocaine to this country by following the money laundering trail. Mazur’s idea is that this will bring
them to the players at the top.
Cranston’s Mazur makes a convincing portrayal
of a skilled, experienced agent who is still able to be surprised and even a
little flummoxed. It’s an
interesting character study into someone who is reliable, stable, and genuine
in his private life but adept at taking on a role where he is able to use those
traits to get someone to trust him in a basically duplicitous
relationship. And for the most
part, this character is hardened to emotional pulls, but does show some
vulnerability after oh-so-close calls.
Cranston pulls this off without even seeming to be trying, a
natural. He is a large reason to
see the movie.
Diane Krueger as another agent, Kathy, playing
Mazur’s “fiancé” is a worthy partner in both acting and in the film’s special
operations story. It’s a nice
touch to present her as an agent first who is new on the job and rather plain,
then show her to be a sharp, glamorous, multi-lingual woman who warmly reaches
out to her partner’s contacts. (I
remember her especially for her portrayal of a border agent in the TV drama
“The Bridge”, someone with a touch of Asperger’s. None of that here!)
Other actors deserving of credit are John
Leguizamo as Mazur’s unpredictable co-agent, Amy Ryan as the head of the Customs
agency, Olympia Dukakis as Mazur’s flamboyant aunt, and Benjamin Bratt as
Mazur’s wealthy mark who befriends Mazur and Kathy.
A thriller that will grab you and make
you jump in your seat.
Grade: B By Donna R. Copeland
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