The Infiltrator is a sensationally intelligent, true-life crime thriller directed by Brad Furman, whose most popular previous work was 2011’s The Lincoln Lawyer starring Matthew McConaughey. “Breaking Bad” breakout Bryan Cranston – now one of Hollywood’s most sought-after actors – finally gets a film role worthy of succeeding his landmark TV performance in the role of U.S. Customs Service special agent Robert Mazur. In the 1980s, Mazur realises that the war on drugs is going after the wrong target: the drugs are expendable, but follow the money and it will lead you to the bad guys behind the drugs.

To do this, Mazur decides to pose as a slick, money-laundering businessman named Bob Musella. Gaining the confidence of Roberto Alcaino (Bratt), Pablo Escobar’s top lieutenant, Mazur becomes a pivotal player for drug lords cleaning their dirty cash and navigates a deadly criminal underworld over a period of five years, where one wrong move could cost him everything.

This film is a lot more than your run-of-the-mill crime thriller. Cranston uses his immense dramatic talents to allow the audience to feel the unrelenting tension and fear that his character faces on a daily basis in dealing with the notoriously violent Pablo Escobar and other such drug lords, all as the task he’s taken on becomes increasingly difficult and risky. Additionally, the highly underrated Leguizamo plays one of his best roles since Carlito’s Way as a low-life informer. Diane Kruger similarly shines as a rookie agent brought in to play Cranston’s undercover wife.

Fans of “Breaking Bad” (and who isn’t?) will find it intriguing to see Cranston in another undercover role, this time on the right side of the law. This is one of 2016’s most anticipated films and rightly so.