Although not for everyone, the intellectual thriller does have a similar tone to McCarthy's "No Country for Old Men."
Scott's camera delights in the big-name cast as he affords them the opportunity to deliberately luxuriate over the sometimes too cerebral conversation.
McCarthy's ever-present theme of the choices people make and the consequences their actions create is on red alert here.
Michael Fassbinder is the unnamed counselor, a Texas attorney who gets caught up in a drug deal.
The characters in "The Counselor" are genuinely unsavory, but what makes them interesting is their willingness to go as far as it takes to get their self-indulgent needs met.