I had gone in thinking I would see the new Independence Day...movie...but seeing as my movie-companion is moving to Germany soon, he suggested seeing something that might be better. I think the exact wording was, "We should see almost anything else tonight. What about that new Bryan Cranston movie?"
I am a sucker for crime procedurals, and especially so for true-life crime films with a focus on the actual, nitty-gritty day-to-day operations of running a crime sting (see also, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and The Most Dangerous Man, which are both similar films, but about spy craft instead of police procedures). I am also a sucker for post-Malcolm in the Middle Bryan Cranston (I was a fan of his earlier comedy stuff, but more so his every-man dramas). So off we went.
This might have been the best decision we made that evening. This film was great: tense, well-acted, good character arcs. I can buy that some people would think it's slow, and for a movie with Mexican drug cartels and undercover police officers, there were very few shootouts (possibly none--for that see Sicario or the hundreds of others that glorify the violence inherent in the so-called War on Drugs). Still, watching Cranston lure these dangerous men into a trusting relationship was nerve-wracking. He could have died so many times, but by luck and good senses, he managed to survive not only that ordeal but nearly a decade more similar assignments.
If you like movies that don't shy away from the realism of solving crime (think: real-life The Departed), then this is for you. If you prefer something with Jason Bourne in it, then you might want to wait until what seems like his "Greatest Hits" clips-show is released later this summer.
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