The Infiltrator

Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar has been portrayed in a number of movies, while his criminal exploits have been the subject of hit Netflix series Narcos. Fans of the labyrinthine cat-and-mouse games of law enforcement and drug cartels will enjoy this very tense, 1980s-set thriller based on US Customs agent Bob Mazur's non-fiction book. Tracing the deadly complexities of an undercover operation set up to destroy Escobar's money-laundering empire, it sees family man Robert Mazur (Bryan Cranston) forced to lead a double life, posing as a flash, crooked financier with a trophy fiancee (Diane Kruger) while at the same time coming home to his loyal wife (Juliet Aubrey). Lincoln Lawyer director Brad Furman treads a lot of familiar cinematic ground in his depiction of bugged hotel suites and mansions built on the proceeds of drug money, but gleans better material from the psychological and marital damage wrought by Mazur's deception. There's little for actresses as accomplished as Olympia Dukakis and Amy Ryan to do, although Benjamin Bratt sizzles as a suavely psychopathic lieutenant and John Leguizamo counters Cranston's urbanity as a streetwise fellow agent. The action moves credibly from Tampa to London and Paris, but anticlimax dogs the presumably factually accurate final act.