Wasp Network

Set against a true-life backdrop with so many sociopolitical twists and turns, Wasp Network comes across as little more than a surface-level history lesson.

Despite a top-notch cast, this stylish espionage saga is an admirable attempt to branch out for acclaimed French director Olivier Assayas (Clouds of Sils Maria), who can’t seem to decide whether he’s making a gritty political thriller or a melodrama about families torn apart by bureaucracy.

Set in the early 1990s, the film starts by explaining the legal and ethical dilemma facing many Cubans under the oppressive Castro regime through the story of Rene (Edgar Ramirez). He’s a pilot in Havana who suddenly leaves his wife (Penelope Cruz) and daughter to pursue freedom in Florida, or so he says.

Instead, he becomes entangled with multiple networks both for and against the socialist government. First, he aligns with Carlos (Leonardo Sbaraglia), who runs a militant organization disguised as a humanitarian rescue operation for exiles stranded at sea.

He befriends a charismatic fellow pilot (Wagner Moura) who gives Rene the opportunity to become an FBI informant. Then he’s pulled in a different direction by an undercover Cuban operative (Gael Garcia Bernal) leading the titular effort to scuttle potential terror attacks against Havana by networks of rogue defectors.

Eventually, the American government starts sniffing around, too, while investigating possible links to South American drug traffickers.

Muddled if intriguing, Assayas’ bilingual screenplay tends to oversimplify some of the broader political ramifications of the source material, while employing a heavy-handed approach in the more intimate character-driven moments.

As it shuffles the chronology and shifts between locales, the uneven film incorporates odd stretches of narration meant to fill in some contextual gaps that generally raise more questions than answers. Still, it offers a compelling glimpse into what drives someone to defect and join a fringe group at great personal risk of losing everything.

Ramirez (Hands of Stone) generates sympathy as a man whose motives are compromised as his loyalties are tested. But he disappears from the movie for lengthy stretches, as the film veers into an abundance of narrative detours.

Wasp Network is intermittently suspenseful as it tries to condense the material and find a fresh perspective. Unfortunately, its intricate maze of subplots, backstories, and conflicted characters rarely yields a deeper emotional resonance.

Not rated, 128 minutes.