"The Infiltrator" movie starring Bryan Cranston as the undercover agent in Don Pablo's world is thrilling to watch. Thegangster flick will keep you fixed to the edge of your seat till the end of the movie. When I say 'Don Pablo' I mean Don Pablo Escobar (Yeah, I'm not talking about the Pablo from the Kanye West album!). This is the real deal in that that the film's narrative is based on the true story of Robert Mazur who brought downd rug lord Escobar's kingdom crashing down it has been reported as the biggest drug bust in the history of the cartel.)
The plot to bring Don Pablo down
In a US government-led sting operation Robert Mazur and his undercover agents managed to infiltrate Pablo Escobar's dangerous gang.
The plan was to take down the infamous Columbian gangster Pablo Escobar. The notorious gangster was behind the making of the world's biggest drug empire and the 'Medellin Cartel'.
An autobiography
"The Infiltrator"is based on an autobiographical book by Robert Mazur titled "The Infiltrator: My Secret Life Inside the Dirty Banks Behind Pablo Escobar's Medellin Cartel." The book was published in 2009. It details Mr. Mazur's covert operation in the Pablo gang. His mission was to infiltrate the "Medellin Cartel" as part of the money-laundering scheme in Tempa, Florida. The movie version depicts the role that the offshore banks played in money-laundering during the Escobar era (a scheme still in operation as made famous by the recent 'Panama Papers scandal.' - "The cache of 11.5 million records shows how a global industry of law firms and big banks sell financial secrecy to politicians, fraudsters and drug-traffickers as well as billionaires, Celebrities an sports stars," reports icij.org.
Bryan Cranston as Robert Mazur
At the start of the film I had doubts about watching "The Infiltrator" in one sitting let alone liking it at all. The main reason that got me hooked on carrying on with watching the movie is the brilliance of Bryan Cranston. He don't need an introduction by now (I won't even mention the show he became famous for either.) But it was interesting to find out about Mr.
Cranston's work as a Hollywood star.
I had, like most of other people who watched the movie, thoughts like "Looks like I'm watching "Breaking Bad" all over again," and "There is a reason that Bryan Cranston is the lead" and "Same story. Drugs and gangs and shit!" throughout the first part of the movie. But things started looking better and different.
I started seeing a different character in Bryan Cranston's Robert Mazur character. It wasn't Mr. Hanks of "Breaking Bad" anymore.
As the story developed so did my interest in the movie and Mr. Cranston's performance. By the time the movie reached the climax I had decided to write about my experience of watching a brilliant movie.
The Infiltrator trailer
'The Infiltrator' and the 'we've seen it all before' factor
"The Infiltrator"is nothing new. I mean there are so many movies depicting the true-life undercover agents infiltrating dangerous gangs narrative already: "Donnie Brasco" starring Al Pacino and Johnny Depp, "Blow" starring Johnny Depp, "Black Mass" starring Johnny Depp and "Serpico" starring Al Pacino (Can you see a pattern forming between Al Pacino and Johnny Depp?
Anyway these are the names of the famous films related to "The Infiltrator" that I can think of from top of my head.)
Donnie Brasco trailer
Pablo Escobar in the news
From Netflix's "Narcos" to the rapper Nas rapping about the legend of Pablo Escobar in DJ Khaled collaboration song called "Album Done" - "All I see is Pablo. Esco" - the drug lord has been in the news everywhere recently. I just happen to watch "The Infiltrator" and the timing of writing a review about the film seems totally apt. The internet video-streaming giant Netflix made a two part series as part of its original series called "Narcos." The second season of the hit show is out and it has people hooked on the gangster show already.
