The Infiltrator

Fresh off an Oscar nomination for Trumbo and a great turn as President Lyndon Johnson on HBO’s All The Way, not to mention his four Emmy awards for playing Walter White on AMC’sBreaking Bad, Bryan Cranston is among the most respected and sought-after actors working today. But there’s a downside to this: It puts him in a highly perilous position to choose the right roles to keep his stardom soaring. Turns out The Infiltrator was a darn good choice.

It’s 1985, and the Medellin drug cartel is smuggling 15 tons of cocaine worth $400 million into the U.S. every week. Enter U.S. Customs Agent Bob Mazur (Cranston), a pro’s pro whose new partner Emir Abreu (John Leguizamo) has an “in” with a drug dealer linked to Colombian kingpin Pablo Escobar.

The Infiltrator is based on a book with the same name by the real Bob Mazur, so surely we’re getting the hero’s version of the story. That’s fine because it feels honest: The difficulty Bob and his fake fiancé, fellow undercover officer Kathy Ertz (Diane Kruger), have in arresting people with whom they’ve grown close feels palpably real, and you can see the heartache it causes on Cranston and Kruger’s faces. Also, the effect of Bob’s work on his family is present but never overwrought; Juliet Aubrey gives a fine performance as Bob’s wife Evelyn, who’s never histrionic but is understandably concerned about her husband’s safety and fidelity.

At 127 minutes, the plot moves at a brisk pace as it covers the two years Mazur, Abreu and Ertz were undercover in this operation, and the tension remains high throughout. Director Brad Furman (The Lincoln Lawyer) infuses the proceedings with a poppy ’80s soundtrack. Early in the film, Furman executes an impressive tracking shot that winds through hotel stairs, down to the lobby and outside to the carport on the day of Bob and Kathy’s fake wedding.

It’s masterful camerawork that requires expert timing from the cast and nary a misstep from the cameraman.

So there you have it: The Infiltrator isn’t just a good story, it’s also well made. There is violence but it’s never excessive, so the squeamish have nothing to fear.

If you hate all the sequels and unoriginal ideas Hollywood keeps throwing up on multiplex screens, this is the kind of movie you’ve been asking for. If you don’t see it, studio execs who judge everything with dollar signs will think you didn’t care and we’ll get more Transformers movies. Don’t be the reason we keep getting Transformers movies.

The Infiltrator (3) • Directed by Brad Furman • Starring Bryan Cranston, John Leguizamo, Diane Kruger • Rated R • 127 min. • At Century Cinemas Del Monte, Northridge Cinemas