Review: Wasp Network

Image courtesy of Netflix.

Much like his 2010 masterpiece "Carlos," Olivier Assayas's new film, "Wasp Network," packs in a lot of story and includes political intrigue, betrayals, terrorism and a real-life story set in a previous era. But while his previous picture unloaded all of this information across the span of four-plus hours, the director's latest crams it all in in just over two hours.

In other words, there's a little bit too much going on in "Wasp Network" and there are too many characters - often more than one can process, thereby making it somewhat of a challenge to figure out how each of them fit into the narrative. That being said, the picture is not the misfire it was represented to be after debuting on last year's fall film festival circuit. No, it's not among Assayas's best films - especially considering the very strong run he's had this past decade - but it's still good and intriguing.

The film follows a group of individuals from Cuba who, in the early 1990s, made their way to the United States, mostly through defection, for purposes that aren't quite made clear until halfway through the movie. We first meet one of these individuals - Rene Gonzalez (played by Edgar Ramirez, who portrayed Carlos in Assayas's film) - as he lands in Miami and renounces his home country.

Rene is a pilot, and he claims that the rationing in Cuba made it impossible for him to fly - or ever become a commercial pilot. He leaves behind a young daughter and wife, Olga (Penelope Cruz), who don't understand why Rene has abandoned them. They are later reunited in the United States through the help of a man named Gerardo Hernandez (Gael Garcia Bernal), who has a mission of his own in America.

In another story, a soldier named Juan Pablo Roque (Wagner Moura) has fled Cuba by swimming to Guantanamo Bay, where he announces that he has defected. He quickly finds success in the United States - and one of the film's weaknesses is that it doesn't make it very clear how he has done so - and meets a young woman named Ana (Ana de Armas), whom he plans to marry.

The film purposely keeps the relationship between all of these various characters nebulous intentionally, so that an element of surprise is possible when all is revealed later in the movie. Rene flies missions for a group of well-to-do Cubans in Miami who have fled Havana during which he drops rescue items to people on rafts who have also left their old country behind. They also drop fliers over Havana that speak out against Fidel Castro's regime.

The film's later half includes terrorist attacks, a character defecting again back to Cuba, espionage and all sorts of other intrigue. At times, this wealth of material feels rushed, and the film might have benefited from the running time Assayas dedicated to "Carlos." Plus, a number of secondary characters who are introduced add slightly to the confusion.

Regardless, the film is gorgeous to look at, features a number of strong performances and the material is nearly always captivating, even when there's an overabundance of it. Assayas is among the world's most interesting directors, and he's had a particularly productive run during the past 10 years, which saw some of his finest efforts - "Carlos," "Something in the Air," "Clouds of Sils Maria," "Personal Shopper" and "Non-fiction."

"Wasp Network" would be considered a weaker film among that bunch, but it's still well worth a watch. There's a lot going on in the film, and most of it is intriguing, even if it's occasionally difficult to figure out how one piece - or character - fits in with another. Still, the film is proof that even a minor work from a major director has its share of benefits.