Search - Counselor on DVD

K. K. (GAMER)
Reviewed on 9/23/2018...

Pretty brutal narco-trafficker plotline with lots of unexpected twists and turns. Brad Pitt is one of my favorite actors but I did not really like his role in this film and did not like how the movie ended. I definitely would not want to watch this again.

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Christie H. (cowgirl18) from WEST BLOCTON, AL
Reviewed on 7/7/2014...

The story begins with a man, known only as "The Counselor" (Michael Fassbender), and his girlfriend Laura (Penélope Cruz) lying in bed and speaking to one another in an increasingly suggestive and erotic manner. The Counselor then performs oral sex on Laura. Meanwhile, somewhere in Mexico, cocaine is being packaged in barrels and concealed in a sewage truck. The truck is driven across the border and stored at asewage treatment plant. The Counselor goes to Amsterdam on what he claims is a business trip, but is actually a meeting with a diamond dealer (Bruno Ganz) in order to purchase an engagement ring for Laura. Back in the United States, The Counselor proposes to Laura, and she accepts. He attends a party at a house owned by Reiner (Javier Bardem) and his girlfriend Malkina (Cameron Diaz). The Counselor and Reiner have a lengthy discussion, during which Reiner claims that The Counselor is not capitalizing on his position of power as much as he could be. The Counselor meets with Westray (Brad Pitt), a business associate, to express interest in a drug deal with a four-thousand percent return rate.

Westray warns The Counselor about becoming involved in such a deal, saying that Mexican cartels are merciless, particularly to lawyers. The Counselor visits one of his clients, a prison inmate named Ruth (Rosie Perez) who is on trial for murder. Ruth's son is a biker and a valued cartel member known as "The Green Hornet" recently arrested for speeding. The Counselor agrees to bail him out of jail. Malkina employs "The Wireman" (Sam Spruell) to steal the drugs. He does this by decapitating the biker with a wire stretched across the highway. After collecting the component that will allow the sewage truck to start, The Wireman drives to the sewage treatment plant, where he steals the truck containing the cocaine. Learning of this incident, Westray meets with The Counselor to notify him that The Green Hornet is dead and that the cocaine has been stolen, bleakly intoning The Counselor's culpability.

Simultaneously, both Ruth and the cartel link The Counselor to the death of the biker and the theft of the drugs. The cartel has found that he bailed out The Green Hornet, which appears as suspect timing and fully blameworthy for the putative purposes of the cartel. The Counselor seeks help from Reiner but receives nothing more than Reiner telling him that his fate is sealed. In Texas, two cartel members pretending to be police officers pull over The Wireman and his accomplice. A shootout ensues when the accomplice shoots and kills one of the "officers" and wounds the other. The wounded cartel member manages to kill the accomplice and The Wireman, accidentally shooting the sewage truck and purposely gunning down a passing-by driver. Reiner is accidentally killed by cartel members while attempting to capture him, and Laura is simultaneously kidnapped. In a last-ditch effort, The Counselor contacts Jefe (Rubén Blades), a high-ranking cartel member, for information on the whereabouts of Laura, Reiner, and Westray, or suggestions on what to do next. Jefe advises The Counselor to live with the choices he has made.

After the truck is fixed and the wounded cartel member is cared for, he goes to the meeting location where the buyer (Dean Norris) gets his cocaine. The Counselor goes back to Mexico, hoping to find Laura. A package is slipped under the door of his hotel room. He opens it and finds a DVD with "Hola!" written on the side. The Counselor breaks down completely, heavily implying that the disk contains an execution video of Laura from the cartel. Laura's decapitated body is dumped at a landfill. Meanwhile, Malkina's failed effort to steal the drugs means that she is out the money she wants. She tracks Westray to London, hiring a woman (Natalie Dormer) to seduce him and steal his bank codes. She then has Westray brutally killed to get his computer to access the account. Malkina meets her banker (Goran Višnjić) at an expensive restaurant. She advises him that he is in over his head and that he needs to get out of the business because if need be, he would be expendable. They turn to the menu and the film ends with her saying "I'm famished."

1 of 3 member(s) found this review helpful.