Michael Fassbender: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked
3. Counselor - The Counselor (2013)
The Counselor is one of the most baffling movies ever made. It was directed by Oscar winner Ridley Scott, written by acclaimed novelist Cormac McCarthy and had an amazing cast that included Javier Bardam, Brad Pitt, Penelope Cruz and Fassbender playing the title character.
It should have been an award winning triumph instead of the turgid mess it turned out to be. Amongst the many problems with The Counselor is that none of the characters talk to one another in anything resembling human speech. Its all long winded monologues about the nature of chance and fate. It's a bore throughout, right from the opening scene between Fassbender and Cruz.
This scene is designed to be sexy but the embarrassingly wordy dialogue makes it come across as hugely awkward instead. This extends to Fassbenders performance as a whole. His unnamed character is a smug blank slate who insists on getting deeper into danger when he doesn't need to. When it finally backfires and his life falls apart its damn near impossible to have any sympathy for him.
Fassbender has a tough time making McCarthys pretentious dialogue sound natural and in the end his descent is expressed through some hammy acting, particularly his final scene. He looks at the contents of a mysterious package and starts weeping uncontrollably. This scene is meant to be heartbreaking but it's just kind of funny instead.