The Counsellor - C4

(Image credit: Photo: Kerry Brown)

Scripted by Cormac McCarthy, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Michael Fassbinder, this slick, bleak and brutal thriller has great pedigree

Scripted by Cormac McCarthy, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Michael Fassbinder, this slick, bleak and brutal thriller has great pedigree.

At its best, the movie dazzles but there are long stretches when the talky plot is confusing and makes no sense.

The scenes of decadent high living and gruesomely inventive bloodshed are stunning and the big-name cast is a real plus.

Fassbender is the hapless title character, a greedy El Paso lawyer who gets involved in a scheme to smuggle $21million of cocaine from Mexico into the US and unwittingly unleashes a cascade of eye-wateringly violent carnage that takes in Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Brad Pitt and Cameron Diaz.