Not really a fan of Ridley Scott's recent non-sci-fi works, I nevertheless give the odd interesting-looking one a go. Matchstick Men , American Gangster all had fun elements to them. Now, with The Counselor , you've got a star-studded cast and talented novelist Cormac McCarthy, responsible for No Country For Old Men , writing the script. Sounded promising. Yet, from the very first scene, it's pretty clear that this is one of those Ridley Scott projects that tries very hard, maybe a little too hard to be arty and "modern" in its approach, like A Good Year . While not as insufferable as the latter, The Counselor still has its overly pretentious scenes, most of which could be cut without it the film losing anything. This being McCarthy's first time writing a feature film of that type, it was always going to be a bit wordier than it should be but all those awkward conversations which characters have constantly in this movie just drag its pace down to a sta