The Infiltrator

This film should be watched at home when you are bored.  Unfortunately, you would probably fall asleep halfway through it.

The Infiltrator, directed by Brad Furman, is proof that a great actor like Bryan Cranston can be in an average, pedestrian film.  Based on a true story, you have to believe that the actual events were far more interesting than the movie version.

Mr. Cranston is a spectacular actor, as proven recently by his Oscar nominated performance in Trumbo.  Here, he plays Robert Mazur, a government agent who goes undercover to expose a Columbian drug ring.  However, it turns out to be a long, tedious film that leaves you hoping that Cranston’s talent overcomes the repetitive plot.  It never happens.

Oddly, as Mr. Mazur infiltrates the Columbian ring, you find yourself rooting for many of the criminals.  While Cranston brings anguish to his wife Evelyn (Juliet Aubrey), some of his targets prove to be imminently likable family men that leaves the audience silently hoping that Mr. Cranston’s efforts fail.

Nothing in this film really sustains your interest other than the performance of John Leguizamo, here playing a US government agent working both sides of the fence.  Both dedicated and funny, without him this film would have lost any meaning.

This is a short review of a long film, but I don’t want to be too hard on Mr. Cranston.  After all, Columbus had four separate voyages to the New World, and not all of them were a success.