Film review: Thriller The Counselor takes convoluted path

The Counselor
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Javier Bardem, Brad Pitt
Director: Ridley Scott
Category: III
Rating: 3/5

Ridley Scott is a director whose films never transcend the quality of the scripts he's given. Fortunately, this time around, he's got a literate and gritty one to work from, courtesy of novelist Cormac McCarthy, who delivered this screenplay when he was 79 years old.

Scott is a workmanlike director who covers his subject matter with ease. This is a solid thriller which, although it lacks panache, tells a hardnosed tale in an interesting and unconventional way - and finds time for moments of philosophical reflection.

As in McCarthy's book No Country for Old Men, which was adapted into a fascinating and eccentric film by Joel and Ethan Coen, The Counselor is centred around a drug deal on the US-Mexico border.

Mexico has been overrun by violent drug gangs who have murdered thousands and rendered many Mexican cities no-go zones. The Counselor is consequently brutal in nature and, although many of the violent excesses take place off-screen, Scott isn't afraid to go the whole hog with the story - even if it means that some of his characters end up in unfavourable situations.

The Counselor is a simple story but the plot is convoluted enough to be interesting. The eponymous counsellor, a lawyer played by Michael Fassbender, wants to provide fiancée Laura (Penelope Cruz) with a better life. In search of cash, he arranges to take part in a drug deal set up by Reiner, a fabulously outré Javier Bardem.