Bryan Cranston tries to take down Pablo Escobar in The Infiltrator trailer

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

You know how those undercover crime thrillers go. 

Law enforcement gets in too deep on their operation, chasing a big bust that might make a difference in the war against drugs/the mob/etc., and the further their involvement goes, the more danger they put themselves and those around them in. Those stories teeter on the wire, always teasing that things could bad at the drop of a hat… and they constantly leave you on the edge of your seat as you hope the hero not only brings down the bad guys, but escapes with their life when all is said and done.

That's the formula THE INFILTRATOR seems to be playing with by the looks of the latest trailer from Broad Green Pictures. This time, it's Bryan Cranston in the true-life tale of a Federal agent who posed as a money launderer in an attempt to break Pablo Escobar's drug enterprise and take him down. 

Based on a true story, Federal agent Robert “Bob” Mazur (Bryan Cranston) goes deep undercover to infiltrate Pablo Escobar’s drug trafficking scene plaguing the nation in 1986 by posing as slick, money-laundering businessman Bob Musella. Teamed with impulsive and streetwise fellow agent Emir Abreu  (John Leguizamo) and rookie agent posing as his fiancé Kathy Ertz (Diane Kruger), Mazur befriends Escobar’s top lieutenant Roberto Alcaino (Benjamin Bratt). Navigating a vicious criminal network in which the slightest slip-up could cost him his life, Mazur risks it all building a case that leads to indictments of 85 drug lords and the corrupt bankers who cleaned their dirty money, along with the collapse of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, one of the largest money-laundering banks in the world.

We used to get movies like this frequently enough… and the trick of them has always been that they are re-watchable as hell. I mean, try to count the amount of times you've seen DONNIE BRASCO, for example. So even though THE INFILTRATOR feels very familiar, it's a nice change of pace during the summer season when every week brings us yet another big-buget blockbuster with shit blowing up all around us and the fate of the world hanging in the balance. Plus, it has Cranston… and who doesn't want to watch whatever he's in, just hoping that another performance might give us a little taste of the magic that became Walter White?

THE INFILTRATOR opens in theaters on July 15.