Rated Greg’s Top 5 Undercover Cops/Agents
- Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves) – Point Break
- Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) – The Departed
- Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) – The Fast and the Furious
- Mr. Orange (Tim Roth) – Reservoir Dogs
- J. Reid (Omar Epps) – In Too Deep
Bryan Cranston stars as real life career undercover US Customs agent Robert Mazur, who penetrated and dismembered Pablo Escobar’s money laundering network in the 1980’s. The Infiltrator is fine. It’ll pass the time if you’re on a plane, but it doesn’t bring anything to the undercover cop narrative that you haven’t seen before in better movies. Don’t get me wrong, of course Cranston does a good job playing a down to Earth family man playing an extravagant criminal, but the operation in real life was probably a lot more impressive than this movie.
Why has it been so hard to make a great Pablo Escobar movie? By all accounts he was one of the most fascinating kingpins of the 20th century, but I count this as the third recent whiff. Maybe the Vinny Chase as Pablo Escobar season from Entourage (see below) ruined it forever. Although some swear by Narcos I guess. Maybe I should give it another shot (is the blond cop done over-explaining everything?). Currently streaming on Amazon Prime.
Grade: C
