The Infiltrator

Robert Mazur, a US Customs agent, infiltrates Pablo Escobar's money-laundering network under the name Bob Musella. What makes it interesting is that the target is not drugs but a bank: BCCI, which had quietly taken control of First American Bankshares in Washington. The film comes from Mazur's own account. Bryan Cranston plays him, with Diane Kruger, Benjamin Bratt and John Leguizamo alongside. Brad Furman directed from a screenplay by his mother, Ellen Brown Furman. The end of the operation is the best section: Mazur stages a fake wedding and invites every target into the same room. Against a budget between 28 and 47.5 million dollars it grossed 22.2 million, opening eighth with 5.3 million. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 72 percent, with critics liking the cast and finding the narrative cluttered. In 2016 Javier Ospina Baraya sued the filmmakers over his portrayal, and a Florida appeals court allowed the case to proceed in 2019. Who it is for: viewers who like true-story undercover films and are curious about eighties financial scandals. Who it is not for: anyone wanting tension. The film carries too many names and institutions and genuinely loses its shape in the middle.