Sicario

 SICARIO

Director : Denis Villenueve

Year : 2015

Genre : Thriller

Rating : ****

The sun baked deserts of Arizona and the derelict architecture of Juarez play host to 'Sicario', the latest enigmatically entitled film from French/Canadian director Denis Villenueve who lends his idiosyncratically dark style to this brutal story of revenge, regret and betrayal set against the backdrop of America's war  against the cartel. Starring Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro, 'Sicario' plays it's hand almost from the offset and Villenueve's macabre and dismal techniques quickly come into practice as rotting corpses and mutilated bodies hanging from bridges begin to fill the screen. While Soderbergh's star-studded Academy Award winning drama 'Traffic' may have explored relatively uncharted territory back in 2001, the huge success of Vince Gilligan's astonishing T.V smash 'Breaking Bad' as well as other similarly themed movies  have  made the daily battles fought on either side of the border now somewhat culturally passe. The sights of gangs mowing down each other over a bag of cocaine are now standard thriller cliches in Hollywood and cinema runs the risk of making this bloody and savage trade dangerously acceptable on the big and small screen. However, 'Sicario' brings this highly controversial and ongoing issue to the forefront with alarming and sometimes frightening urgency - showing us the underbelly of the beast in all of it's bloody and sometimes barbaric nature.
 

 

Emily Blunt (who earned her action stripes in the massively underated 'Edge Of Tomorrow') shines as FBI agent Kate Macer who is recruited for a covert black-ops operation after stumbling upon a grisly and gruesome crime scene. Heading the operation is the constantly gum-chewing Matt Lacer, played with some gusto by a condescending Josh Brolin, who uses whatever means necessary to bring the flow of illegal narcotics to it's very knees. The two have a very fractious working relationship to say the least and it is the continuous battle of nerves throughout 'Sicario' that makes it so engaging to watch. However, it is Benicio Del Toro's suspicious Alejandro who is the real focal point of the movie- a quiet but deadly former prosecutor whose violent methods and motivations are, shall we say, oblique at best.

Much like his previous movie 'Prisoners', 'Sicario' sees Villenueve at his most bleak and portentous and the film leaves very little room for laughs or even respite during it's somewhat overlong two hour and ten minute running time. The screenplay written by Taylor Sheridan of 'Sons Of Anarchy' fame continually subverts our expectations and while it may follow certain generic strands at points, the dialogue throughout 'Sicario' is as consistently biting and as vicious as the action taking place on screen. Gorgeous but stark cinematography by the great Roger Deakins helps to add to the sense of foreboding with haunting sunsets and expansive settings providing the backdrop to the carnage while Johann Johannson's less-than-melodic underscoring serves as the ominous accompaniment to Deakins' overwhelmingly joyless but beautiful imagery.

The performances throughout 'Sicario' are great. But while Del Toro and Brolin bring a lot of heft to their respective roles, it is the quiet Emily Blunt who steals the show as the FBI agent who is thrown into a situation way out of her control. She provides the film with it's one and only moral centrepoint and it is the commitment and vulnerability she brings to the part that makes 'Sicario' so emotionally affecting. It may be a performance that lacks the right elements for awards glory but I believe that it is her performance that will make 'Sicario' an inevitable hit.

 

Terrific performances, wonderful cinematography and solid direction makes 'Sicario' one of the most thrilling movies of the year. However, I would be lying if I said that I loved it. At points, the narrative really seems to drag and while the film does have a definite final destination, I must admit that the convoluted plot twists and meandering story threads did lose me at points. It lacks the tenacity of the superior 'Prisoners' or even 'Incendies' and while it is indeed brutally violent at points, it loses some it's edge when compared to other similarly themed films. Nevertheless, 'Sicario' is one of the most accomplished films I've seen in 2015 and I'd be foolish not to recommend it to anyone who has even a molecule of interest in it. It is electrifying, it is sometimes downright frightening and features a career-best performance from the hugely talented Emily Blunt who continues to prove to be one of cinema's most versatile actresses.