A longtime US Customs agent with extensive experience undercover, Robert Mazur (Bryan Cranston) takes on the obligatory last big case before heading off into retirement. Somewhat begrudgingly, he teams with Emir Abreu (John Leguizamo) and works his way into the cocaine conglomerate run by Pablo Escobar. Mazur poses as Bob Musella, a money launderer with big ties to the Mafia. Before long, he befriends a highly ranked figure in Escobar’s organization (Benjamin Bratt) but the operation hangs by a thread and puts both Mazur and his family in greater danger than he ever imagined.
 
I’m not sure what to do with Bryan Cranston post-Breaking Bad and I’m not sure Hollywood knows, either. Having completed one of the greatest runs in TV history in an era when TV actually has more sway than film, you would think the world would be Cranston’s blue meth-filled oyster. Few have the talent and the range that Cranston has displayed over his illustrious career. And yet, that has yet to truly translate since Breaking Bad ended. He is good in Trumbo but that movie is awful. Godzilla is a blast but he’s mostly a plot devise. All the Way appealed to critics but didn’t have any cultural impact. A look at what lies ahead for Cranston is highlighted by Power Rangers and Why Him?, a Christmas comedy that screams “Rotten.” I fear he may be stuck in an undesirable place where he is too big to do character work (which he is great at) but not big enough to lead material worthy of his skill.
 
The Infiltrator is more of the same. It’s watchable but not memorable. Cranston is good but not great. It aspires to be significant but does nothing to actually attain that status. The story itself (based on the biography of the real life Robert Mazur) is decent enough but more often than not, it plays like a greatest hits collection of other cops and robbers movies. I haven’t read Mazur’s book so I cannot speak to the realism of the plot and the events that unfold on screen but there certainly doesn’t seem to be anything original about what takes place. Most of the characters are really more like undercover crime movie tropes personified and few of the actors are asked to do much more than look the part. The pacing is disjointed, featuring too much exposition in some places and a complete lack of context in others. The Infiltrator looks good and director Brad Furman is solid with the camera but that does little to pull the movie out of mediocrity.
 
And look, that’s fine. I don’t expect every movie to be ground breaking or to bring a new perspective to the table. Some movies just are what they are and there’s nothing wrong with that. If nothing else, I’m happy to have an adult movie made for adults drop in the midst of all the summer blockbusters. But you can tell Furman wants his movie to be more than this, that he thinks he’s putting together something special, and for me, the weight of expectation became distracting. Furman’s most successful movie, The Lincoln Lawyer, worked because it accepted what it was (an R-rated John Grisham movie with a sleazy protagonist) and didn’t try to be anything more. There’s something to be said for a director who can consistently churn out movies that play just as well on basic cable as they do in theaters and that’s what Furman does best. The Infiltrator falls short of its goal of importance, especially in the extremely sloppy third act, leaving me with the feeling (fair or unfair) that my time has been effectively wasted.
 
Which brings me back to Cranston. If my time was wasted, then Cranston’s certainly was. His fame came late in his career so, in my book, he’s earned the right to cash some checks and take it easy if he’s so inclined. But he’s not doing The Infiltrator to get that money; he’s here because this movie should hold some water and instead, he is relegated to being the best part of a mediocre film and one that really isn’t worth his time.
 
Grade: C+