It reminded me of when western governments started naming “czars” to handle everything—they seemed to forget what happened to those appointed before. To be fair to “Wakefield” (Michael Douglas), his odds of stopping drug trafficking from Mexico into the United States weren’t looking good to begin with. The whole assignment felt like a backroom deal, with his own DEA agents trying to dismantle the “Ayala” cartel while law enforcement south of the border operated under rules more aligned with survival than justice. They do manage a seeming victory when they arrest “Carlos Ayala” (Steven Bauer), thanks to good work from “Gordon” (Don Cheadle) and “Castro” (Luis Guzmán). What they didn’t anticipate, though, is that his previously uninvolved wife, “Helena” (Catherine Zeta Jones), is determined not to end up struggling with her son and decides to step in and manage some of her husband's illegal activities. Meanwhile, different strategies prove effective for “Rodriguez” (Benicio Del Toro) and his partner “Sanchez” (Jacob Vargas), who are just as ruthless when it comes to tracking down these criminals and their couriers, eventually finding themselves caught up in a much more dangerous effort to take down the head of the “Obregon” organization. Things aren’t made easier for the new American boss by the fact that his teenage daughter, “Caroline” (Erika Christensen), spends a lot of time with her boyfriend (Topher Grace) and their wealthy friends, using whatever drugs they can get in their privileged lives, and when that becomes public, his own position might force him to consider writing that second letter he’d been warned about. As the pressure mounts on all sides, much depends on the testimony of dealer “Ruíz” (Miguel Ferrer), who has been promised immunity if he talks, but—well, let's just say "Mrs. Ayala" wants her husband back. Rather than take a sweeping look at national politics, this works better by concentrating on the people working on the ground, constantly bending and breaking rules to stay one step ahead of those with far greater budgets, resources, and cunning to ensure that for every one caught, nine more slip through. I wasn’t keen on the occasionally amateurish cinematography, and the score often felt intrusive, but Del Toro is excellent, portraying a pragmatic officer who has standards and boundaries, though they can be conveniently blurred when necessary. Ferrer also does well as the unsettling informant, and the gradual weaving together of all the plot threads leads to a resolution that realistically demonstrates how such a complete ending is unlikely. Fortunately, Douglas isn’t featured prominently because he's largely ineffective, but most everyone else performs admirably in delivering a raw depiction of what it might be like for the narcotics equivalent of King Canute.

Source on TMDB