The Counsellor

This curious thriller from Ridley Scott - here showing in a different cut that includes extended and deleted scenes - stars Michael Fassbender as a lawyer (the counsellor of the title, whose name we're never told) who gets his hands dirty in a drug-trafficking deal with shady underworld figures Javier Bardem and Brad Pitt. When a rival organisation hijacks a huge shipment on the US-Mexican border, both Fassbender and his glamorous fiancée Penélope Cruz find their lives in danger as unseen paymasters seek revenge for the loss of their merchandise. Further plot details are withheld as Scott focuses on an oblique morality tale of love and greed populated by outlandish characters (none more so than Bardem's predatory cheetah-owning girlfriend Cameron Diaz), which leaves viewers to fill in the blanks. Novelist Cormac McCarthy's first original screenplay is awash with philosophical speeches from every main character, which tend to frustrate and baffle rather than move the story along, while the enigmatic performances and stylistically violent set pieces gloss over a stuttering narrative that only partially delivers.