In 1981, TV personality Virginia Vallejo (Penélope Cruz) goes to meet an unknown group of nouveau rich in Bogota, Columbia. It's a party to install Pablo Escobar (Javier Bardem) as the king of the cartel. She ignores how he gets the money but rather how he spends the money. She becomes his mistress as she touts his social achievements in the media.

This has the feel of a moneyed empty Telenovela. It seems like a surface telling of Escobar's rise and fall. Everything is here. Bardem does Escobar well. There is brutality. There is family drama. There are the highlights of his reign. None of it feels real or immediate. Nobody below the two leads have any personality. The wife has one good scene. No other character is a fleshed out being. There is no rooting interest in anybody either good or bad. This story simply exists, these characters did stuff, and I don't much care.

Based on the true story of Cartel drug lord Pablo Escobar (Javier Bardem) and his scorned newscaster mistress (Penélope Cruz) who brought him to his end. That's about it. Great to have lived a life to have Penélope Cruz play your part...not so great to have Javier Bardem play you.

The film starts in 1993 with Virginia being placed in protection and then she tells the story that starts in 1982. She was attracted to Pablo as the "Robin Hood" of Columbia because of all the homes he was building for the poor. It wasn't until there was a body count did she start to care about his business. The one US Interstate scene was a hoot.

Guide: F-word, sex, nudity (Javier Bardem major league butt shot)

In 1981, Virginia Vallejo (Penelope Cruz) is a famed Colombia's journalist and TV news anchorwoman who is invited to a VIPs party in the ranch of Pablo Escobar, a Colombian drug lord and narcoterrorist who founded and was the sole leader of the Medellín Cartel . Seduced by his charisma, journalist Virginia starts a passionate love story with Escobar (Javier Bardem) despite he's a family man married with María Victoria (Julieth Restrepo) . Along the 80's years, Escobar becomes notorious in his attempt to better the life of the low-born people of Medellín and raising a politician carrier in the Colombia's congress, being elected as a congressman , but Virginia starts to know Escobar's real power controlling an empire of crime in Colombia and spreading his drug by all USA . It causes that the DEA's agent Shepard (Peter Sarsgaard) sets out in his pursuit , adding the President Belisario Betancur allying with USA to stop Escobar and extradite him to judge outside Colombia .

Drama , thriller movie based on actual events about a journalist who strikes up a romantic relationship with famous drug lord Pablo Escobar that results in a thunderous love affair , this last one begins a drug international smuggling and subsequently a war in the country to eliminate all his enemies, politicians and non-politicians . The picture relies heavily on the twisted relationship between Javier Bardem/Pablo Escobar and Penélope Cruz/Virginia Vallejo. Here Javier Bardem gives a terrific acting as Escobar , displaying an extreme physical transformation , giving a violent portrayal of the heinous ringleader who unleashes his thirst for blood and his ambition to rule everything . Penelopé Cruz gives an acceptable performance as Virginia, an anchorwoman who makes a difficult decison , seeing as her carrier and her reputation are destroyed by Escobar, takes off a real situation: to die at the hands of Escobar or by his enemies as an act of reprisal, or save herself helping Shepard to stop Escobar before he kills her. And Peter Sarsgaard as a stubborn DEA agent Shepard who interests by his business and by Virginia, contacting her looking for a way to stop him . It contains a colorful and evocative cinematography by Alex Catalán . Atmospheric as well as lively musical score by Federico Jusid . The motion picture was professionally directed by Fernando León De Aranoa, realizing in a realistic and thrilling style . Fernando León De Aranoa was born on May 26, 1968 in Madrid, location where he often shoots his flicks . Fernando began working in cinema in the 90s filming shorts and writing screenplays, and has made a few films , usually dramas . He is a nice writer and director, known for Familia (1996) , Princesas (2005) , Barrio (1998),Amador (2010) , Sabina (2011) , his best picture : Los Lunes al Sol or Mondays in the sun (2002) and A pertect day (2015) .

Adding more remarks about his life , these are as follows : Pablo Escobar Gaviria (1 December 1949 - 2 December 1993) was a a low-born man who gained money and power with drug trafficking together his friends, turning them in the new generation of rich men of the country. Dubbed "The King of Cocaine", Escobar is the wealthiest criminal in history, having amassed an estimated net worth of US$30 billion by the time of his death (equivalent to $58 billion as of 2018),while his cartel monopolized the cocaine trade into the United States in the 1980s and 1990s . Born in Rionegro and raised in Medellín, Escobar studied briefly at Universidad Autónoma Latinoamericana of Medellín, but left without graduating; he instead began engaging in criminal activity, selling illegal cigarettes and fake lottery tickets, as well as participating in motor vehicle theft. In the early 1970s, he began to work for various drug smugglers, often kidnapping and holding people for ransom .In 1976, Escobar founded the Medellín Cartel, which distributed powder cocaine, and established the first smuggling routes into the United States. Escobar's infiltration into the U.S. created exponential demand for cocaine, and by the 1980s, it was estimated Escobar led monthly shipments of 70 to 80 tons of cocaine into the country from Colombia . As a result, Escobar quickly became one of the richest people in the world ,but consistently battled rival cartels domestically and abroad, which led to massacres and the murders of police officers, judges, locals, and prominent politicians , making Colombia the murder capital of the world. In the 1982 parliamentary election, Escobar was elected as an alternate member of the Chamber of Representatives as part of the Liberal Alternative movement. Through this, he was responsible for community projects, such as the construction of houses and football fields, which gained him popularity among the locals of the towns that he frequented. However, Escobar was vilified by the Colombian and American governments, who routinely stifled his political ambitions and pushed for his arrest, with Escobar widely believed to have orchestrated the DAS Building bombing and Avianca Flight 203 bombings in retaliation . In 1991, Escobar surrendered to authorities, and was sentenced to five years imprisonment on a host of charges, but struck a deal of no extradition with Colombian President Cesar Gaviria, with the ability of being housed in his own, self-built prison. In 1992, Escobar escaped and went into hiding when authorities attempted to move him to a more standard holding facility, leading to a nation-wide manhunt.As a result, the Medellín Cartel crumbled, and in 1993, Escobar was killed in his hometown by Colombian National Police, a day after his 44th birthday. His legacy remains controversial; while many denounce the heinous nature of his crimes, Escobar was seen as a "Robin Hood-like" figure for many in Colombia, as he provided many amenities to the poor, while his killing was mourned and his funeral attended by over 25,000 people. Additionally, his private estate, Hacienda Nápoles, has been transformed into a theme park, and he has been praised or criticized for importing hippopotamuses to Colombia. His life has also served as inspiration for or has been dramatized in film, television, and in music.

His life has been adapted in : Blow, a 2001 American biographical film based on George Jung; Escobar was portrayed by Cliff Curtis.Pablo Escobar: The King of Coke (2007) is a TV movie documentary by National Geographic, featuring archival footage and commentary by stakeholders. Escobar (2009) was delayed because of producer Oliver Stone's involvement with the George W. Bush biopic .Killing Pablo (2011),was supposedly in development for several years, directed by Joe Carnahan. It was to be based on Mark Bowden's 2001 book of the same title, which in turn was based on his 31-part Philadelphia Inquirer series of articles on the subject. In December 2008, Bob Yari, producer of Killing Pablo, filed for bankruptcy. Escobar: Paradise Lost: a romantic thriller in which a naive Canadian surfer falls in love with a girl who turns out to be Escobar's niece. American Made, a 2017 American biographical film based on Barry Seal; Escobar was portrayed by Mauricio Mejía.