Thursday 14 May 2015

POPCORN REVIEW: THE COUNSELLOR

3/5

No Counsel For Old Men.

Need some counselling? You may after this. Because this tense and turbulent crime thriller bordering Mexico bags more foreign bodies than health inspectors. Words may be the main weapons here in this mass destruction of script paper (especially the tree culling extended cut) but the violence here is Del Ray ultra. What else would you expect from legendary 'The Road' and 'Blood Merian' author Cormac McCarthy? Who here extends his legacy with his first wrote screenplay for 'The Counsellor'. Bringing back 'No Country For Old Men' brilliant, sinister star Javier Bardem in yet another chameleon character actors 'guise (see his classic 'Collateral' cameo and his famous 'Skyfall' Bond villain for more great bad in different tones from this thematic guy) gives this film a man who could make talking about an impromptu, car window screen wiping incident sound like one hell of a story. It kind of is, no matter how crazy it sounds. Sure in classic Cormac, this novel idea from the writer is full of conversations. So much so that you may be Elvis wishing for a little more action. But when lines are being mailman perfection delivered by the likes of Bardem and the seemingly effortlessly, always brilliant Brad Pitt, then even when Hollywood's most famous faces tips a waitress its handed over in the most coolest of ways. And when they finally do put down their glasses and take it outside the action is gun cocking and chokingly conflicting and convincing. Leaving you in one snatch of a vice grip. Still great Ridley Scott's latest epic that features the brains and beauty of Cameron Diaz and Penelope Cruz and a cameo list of great likes like Rosie Perez, John Leguizamo, Natalie Dormer and Goran ViĆĄnjic is all brought together by the fantastic maestro Michael Fassbender holding counsel. Proving this man can lead an all-star cast like his 'First Class' and 'Bastered' scene stealing showed. Sure this pycho-therapy maybe needed a few more sessions work, but at the end of its time its still got the meat and potatoes of being worthy of a couple hours on the couch. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

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