Escobar

This is a very romanticized version of Pablo Escobar's life. It was meant to be that way, so don't have any other expectations. From that point of view, one of the few couples in Hollywood (Cruz+Bardem) who can work professionaly outside their private life. They make a great team on set.

Why anyone (the director?) made Spanish actors speak bad English in a story which is supposed to take place in a Spanish speaking country with Spanish speaking characters is a mysterious to me. It makes the otherwise well intended film unnatural and completely unbelievable, in my mind it turns the film into a B-movie, frankly unbearable to watch. What a waste of good actors! In an age when even HBO has understood that subtitles are indispensable when you want to make your story to be authentic and credible, I think that decision is the worst flaw of the film.

This film tells the life of Pablo Escobar and his mistress Virginia.

The story is captivating because it is intense and suspenseful. There is a constant threat of danger to all the characters involved. Many people lose their lives, yet fortunately the film is not too graphically gory. I feel sorry for the characters, and what happened to them.

Sadly I missed a lot of what was said because Javier Bardem just mumbles his way through the whole thing.

On it's own this may be a decent movie. But if you watched Narcos before this movie, it only seems like a hasty summary of the series, told from the viewpoint of one of the less interesting characters. This, combined with the fact that it should have been in Spanish, and the annoying voice over, makes it a pain to watch. One upside: Javier Bardem is actually good as Pablo!