Escobar - Il fascino del male

Never watched a movie from this side of the story.. but its in English.

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

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.

If you have watched Narcos, this film is going to be like a brief summary for you. The plot is based on the book "Loving Pablo, hating Escobar" written by Virginia Vallejo. According to her point of view, she gives her version of Escobar's story and his crimes. Bardem and Cruz give an extraordinary performance in this film, Bardem looks like the real Pablo. For this reason, I agree with the other users who are saying that the film would have been better in Spanish (like Narcos). Apart from that, I recommend this film if you are interested in Escobar's story.

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.