The Counselor ****

Set in the high stakes world of Southwestern drug traffickers, "The Counselor" is a present day almost classic tragedy.  The counselor (Michael Fassbender), a hip, stylish El Paso lawyer with a knockout girlfriend (Penelope Cruz) gets greedy and through his nightclub owning, dealer friend and client (Javier Bardem) gets involved in a deal that has far-reaching consequences.

Director Ridley Scott here teams up with writer Cormac McCarthy in a dark tale populated with well-drawn, well-played characters, including Cameron Diaz as a real femme fatale, and Brad Pitt as a smart, careful, rich drug cowboy. The counselor is warned repeatedly and graphically about the world he is stepping into. He says he'll be careful, but his love of money and the trappings of success, including that incredible diamond he flies to Amsterdam to purchase for his fiancee, outweigh caution.

With two of the more remarkable scenes of sex and murder in movies, and punctuated with poetic arias from the pen of McCarthy,"The Counselor" makes an indelible impression.