The Infiltrator

We’ve seen plenty of big-screen biopics about heroic undercover investigators, and lots of tales about the perils of dealing with Latin American cartels. However, The Infiltrator manages to be more fresh than familiar.

The high-stakes crime thriller from director Brad Furman (The Lincoln Lawyer) is a stylish and evocative chronicle of the efforts of U.S. Customs special agent Robert Mazur to unravel a money-laundering scheme involving famed Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar during the early 1980s.

To do that, Mazur (Bryan Cranston) adopts a secret identity, Bob Musella, and begins introducing himself to some of Escobar’s henchmen as a corrupt financier who can help filter their currency into the United States.

With the help of his partners Emir (John Leguizamo) and Kathy (Diane Kruger), Bob gains their trust and eventually becomes chummy with kingpin Roberto (Benjamin Bratt), the top deputy to Escobar. The goal becomes not only to take down the source of the criminal activity, but to expose the complicit Washington banks, too.

Of course, the job becomes more dangerous as he goes deeper into the criminal underworld, navigating a network of informants, double-crossers and ruthless gangsters, all while maintaining his cover.

Cranston (Trumbo) again showcases his versatility with his portrayal of a cunning and hard-nosed investigator whose arrogant and prickly personality frequently makes him a better fit among drug traffickers and money launderers than among his own colleagues.

In fact, the character is often more compelling than the story around him, which embellishes some true-life details and becomes more conventional in its middle section.

Still, the taut screenplay by Furman’s wife, Ellen — based on Mazur’s memoir —gradually generates suspense and provides a different perspective than other recent films about the war on cartels. For example, the film offers a glimpse into the perils of undercover work before the proliferation of high-tech surveillance equipment.

There’s also an intriguing sociopolitical subtext, given the backdrop of the Reagan administration’s war on drugs and the government’s volatile relationships with some Latin American countries at the time.

“The economy is addicted to drugs,” Roberto explains to Bob, and you wish such an assertion that dirty money is sustaining the American economy would be explored in a deeper context. However, The Infiltrator is a solid, workmanlike effort even if it never cashes in on that potential for deeper relevance and moral complexity.

Rated R, 127 minutes.