Three years after Breaking Bad came to an end, series star Bryan Cranston, traded in his role as an incredibly notorious and feared drug dealer and swapped to the side of the feds in The Infiltrator. Holding a 72% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, the crime thriller doesn’t necessarily blow minds but is still worth a watch for those out there who believe that Cranston can do no wrong. If you’re uncertain, just ask Netflix subscribers as the Brad Furman-helmed feature is currently making its way up the streamer’s Top 10 list.

In The Infiltrator, based on the autobiography, The Infiltrator: My Secret Life Inside the Dirty Banks Behind Pablo Escobar’s Medelín Cartel, Cranston stars as the very much real Robert Mazur. A U.S. Customs special agent by trade, Mazur risked his life and the lives of his loved ones when he took it upon himself to go undercover in an attempt to bring down Pablo Escobar’s money-laundering hustle. Matching fire with fire, Mazur poses as a dishonest businessman to win the trust of Escobar, slowly chiseling away and getting to a much more hidden level of corruption between the drug lord and the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, which had ties to First American Bankshares in Washington, D.C.

When in doubt, it’s always best to sort out the professional and supportive help of those around you. That’s exactly what Furman did when it came to the screenplay for The Infiltrator. In a fun, albeit not often heard-of move, the filmmaker turned to none other than his mother to pen the movie’s script. With a background in literary writing, Ellen Brown Furman took the plunge and more than nailed the task of bringing the story from the pages of Mazur’s autobiography to life in cinematic form.

Bryan Cranston’s Dynamite Co-Stars
Along with landing the Malcolm in the Middle alum, who was just coming off an Academy Award nomination for his work in Trumbo, for the film’s leading role, The Infiltrator also featured a dreamy lineup of performers that included Diane Kruger (National Treasure), John Leguizamo (To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar), Benjamin Bratt (Miss Congeniality), Amy Ryan (The Office), Saïd Taghmaoui (The Killer), and Joe Gilgun (Preacher). The project was the fourth of Furman’s, following the success of The Take, The Lincoln Lawyer, and Runner Runner, and, although it may not have been the box office moneymaker that The Lincoln Lawyer was, the movie still hit a solid reception chord with critics for the story and Cranston’s performance.

Join the hoards over at Netflix and check out Cranston’s turn as the undercover special agent, as The Infiltrator is now streaming.

The Infiltrator Release Date July 13, 2016 Main Genre Drama Writers Ellen Sue Brown Expand

Watch On Netflix