Watch the clip above to see Cranston’s ideal impressions.
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Based on the non-fiction book of the same name by U.S. Customs Special Agent Robert Mazur, “The Infiltrator” is a fictionalized telling of “Operation C-Chase”, a massive undercover effort in the mid-1980s that to this day is considered one of the most successful drug-busting operations in the history of the United States. It’s an fantastic build that almost snaps over and over as each of the main characters who are undercover (Cranston, Diane Kruger, and John Leguizamo) all find themselves thisclose to a bullet or worse over the course of the film. It’s a true story, based on the book by Robert Mazur, a US customs special agent who went undercover in the 1980s to expose big banks working in collusion with Colombian drug cartels to launder money.
More than a simple “caricature” artist, Cranston is an avid political junkie, as he has demonstrated both in interviews and on talk shows such as Real Time with Bill Maher.
“That was the most degrading, vicious, and disgusting thing I’ve ever seen”, his wife tells him, driving home in the miserable aftermath.
“The Infiltrator” is rated R for strong violence and language throughout, some sexual content and drug material.
Director Brad Furman (“The Lincoln Lawyer”) does a serviceable job of keeping the narrative elements in play but has trouble making us care. Bob now has a “fiance”, played by a fellow undercover agent, Kathy Ertz (Diane Kruger), who has never been on a mission before.
“If Donald Trump is elected President of the United States, in a kind of historical way it’s exciting because we will see the actual last President of the United States”, the Pirates of the Caribbean star told The Hollywood Reporter. Eventually Mazur gets close to one particularly ruthless but soulful criminal (Benjamin Bratt), whom he will of course inevitably have to betray.
The supporting cast also includes Amy Ryan and Olympia Dukakis, the former as Mazur’s boss and the latter as his aunt. Mazur improvises, quickly, and the scene crackles with nervous suspense.
Tellingly, the erotic charge coursing between these two characters finds release not through sex but through the element of daring improvisation it brings out in their deception.
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The war on drugs might not be producing the busts the feds are hoping for, but Mazur is convinced that his follow-the-money strategy can.
