Wasp Network (2019)

Wasp Network: Directed by Olivier Assayas. With Penélope Cruz, Edgar Ramírez, Gael García Bernal, Ana de Armas. The story of five Cuban political prisoners who had been imprisoned by the United States since the late 1990s on charges of espionage and murder.

“Given the intriguing story and really good cast behind this, it ought to have been good. It isnu0026#39;t. It meanders all over the place with way too many plots, sub plots and storylines all ambling about devoid of a solid narrative. It could be a six-parter if it wanted to be, but as a single film it just doesnu0026#39;t really gel at all. Olivier Assayas clearly has some skin in the game as he sets out to interweave the political and personal stories of 5 Cubans who end up, by various means, in Florida in the 1990s. Tourist pilot Edgar Ramirez (u0026quot;Reneu0026quot;) is one of then, who leaves home and stunningly gorgeous wife Penelope Cruz (u0026quot;Olgau0026quot;) one day, pinches a plane and defects to the US where, together with u0026quot;Juan Pablou0026quot; (Wagner Moura) he is soon part of a network that effectively tries to assist Cuban defectors to get to the USA. Their determination to destabilise the Castro administration starts to lead them into more complex, moral choices whilst we continue to see his wife struggling with day to day life back home with their daughter. Thatu0026#39;s just the first half hour… There are plenty more characters, and storylines; CIA involvement; the infamous hotel bombs of 1997 – all told in a rigidly episodic fashion. It is trying to cram way too much into two hours and as such the characterisations suffer. Itu0026#39;s not that you donu0026#39;t like or sympathise with them, itu0026#39;s that you donu0026#39;t ever feel you really know or understand them – Gael García Bernal as the equivalent of u0026quot;Controlu0026quot; somehow lacks any menace or sophistication too. There is some beautiful photography of the island of Cuba itself, and of the Canary Islands, and it looks great, the cast look great, but it needed much more focus and much tighter plot filtration.”