Wasp Network review – an ambitious story that becomes incoherent and convoluted

Historical films that try to cover so much material within a limited time frame are notoriously incohesive. Netflix’s new based-on-a-true-story spy film, Wasp Network, has the makings of a smash hit. It has an all-star cast, a fascinating story, and the distinction of being one of the first films to shoot scenes in Cuba since the American embargo was lifted under the Obama administration. Sadly, the film has too much to tell in too little time.

Directed and written by Olivier Assayas, his script concerns how a group of defecting Cubans set up shop in the United States to dismantle a group of anti-Castro terrorist groups operating in Miami in early 1990. Rene (Edgar Ramirez) defects to the States despite having his wife Olga (Penelope Cruz) and his young daughter at home that need his time and attention. Juan Pablo (Narcos’ Wagner Moura) swam from Cuba to Guantanamo Bay, successfully avoiding sharks, to announce his defection, and is rewarded with obnoxious product placement of a McDonald’s meal for his troubles.

He later meets his cousin, who helps him (and Rene) turn as an FBI informer for $1,500 a week. He then meets a beautiful Cuban woman named Ana (reuniting with Sergio costar, Ana De Armas), and they start a life together. Gerardo (Gael Garcia Bernal) joins them as their team leader and awakes the nest to report CANF’s (Cuban-American National Foundation) plans to hasten Castro’s regime.

The French Assayas is perhaps best to know for his collaborations over the past few years with Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart in films like Personal Shopper, Clouds of Sils Maria, and Non-fiction, all very distinctive movies with an extraordinary amount of depth that, despite some sharp tonal shifts, are all remarkably fresh. Wasp Network has little going on below the surface with a fairly straightforward conflict that is relatively well known. Assaya’s script, though, does attempt to show both sides but has so many subplots that go on at once the plot and even themes become convoluted.

This results from trying to tell a story with an eight-year vast amount of information, twists, and turns in 120-minutes. Films always need to be the length they need to be. Wasp Network, frankly, needed another hour to tell the story effectively because it has a real problem finding coherence in too many moving parts. I’ve said this before and have been met with negative feedback, but if you tell a story with this many variables, it really should be made into a limited series. This would allow all these narratives to come together at a pace that better serves the viewer.

The film’s best-written and paced scene came with CANF’s terrorist attack on Cuba’s tourism, and the film needed more of it — which makes it more interesting because it didn’t have a single scene with anyone from the all-star lineup. Even looking past its politics, Wasp Network tells a side that has rarely been examined from Hollywood with any magnifying glass and was close to being an excellent biographical spy tale. It ultimately had the makings of a smash hit with its fascinating story and an all-star cast. Still, unfortunately, the story becomes incoherent and convoluted under the weight of its ambition.