On The Counselor

The Counselor promises much in all departments, but perhaps most exciting amongst its talent is the debut of Cormac McCarthy as a screenwriter. McCarthy is one of America’s most talented working writers and his novels have been adapted fairly frequently with varying levels of success. From All The Pretty Horses (2000) to the excellent No Country For Old Men (2007). McCarthy has a way with language that is superbly symbolic and creates stark, violent worlds of immense beauty. The Counselor is his first work that has bypassed the novel form and gone direct to screenplay.

Whether The Counselor worked on the page or whether it has been edited and McCarthy’s vision has been lost is unknown, but what is known is that on screen it does not work. The characters are enigmatic to the point of frustration as is the narrative. At no point is it clear what is going on. And not in a good way, where we are guessing the fate of the characters, but in a bad way, where boredom sets in. What is worse is that McCarthy’s dialogue comes across as hackneyed and sends us running back and craving the creativity of The Road, published in 2006. This simply feels misjudged in all areas and is better glossed over for the careers of all involved.