Sicario

The wait is over. Since the trailer came out, I watched it several times a week. That's how hyped up I was. I finally got to watch Sicario, Denis Villeneuve's latest film. It got a very positive reception at the Cannes festival, and got tons of praise from movie critics worldwide.

My very first recommendation to anyone interested in watching this film is to not watch the trailer, or don't watch it repeatedly like I did. Although it's incredibly exciting, it gives way too much away. Sicario basically consists of approximately 6-7 set-pieces. The trailer shows key moments from all the set-pieces, and leaves you knowing almost just as much about the story as you'll get to know watching the actual film.

Sicario features a pretty thin storyline, but to its defence, it's all part of a tactical approach at keeping things blurry, shady, and mysterious to the audience. Metaphorically, these mechanisms serve the story pretty well, as we watch official government agencies use unorthodox methods and people in this bloody war against the cartels, and the intent is to offer a glimpse at an ongoing situation and let the viewer's imagination fill in the blanks.

That came off as a bit of an odd artistic choice to me, as, in recent years, several films and TV shows have thoroughly explored all the horrors resulting from the war against drugs at the border area between the U.S. and Mexico. It's not exactly a brand new subject matter to worldwide audiences. My point, basically, is that it's an odd timing to choose such a broad approach to a subject that has become familiar to the masses. When my imagination had to fill in the blanks, it basically did it with memories of other films and TV shows exploiting the very same subject matter, and that dug deeper into it.

All the technical aspects of Sicario are off the charts. Denis Villeneuve's directing is spectacular. The sequence with the convoy of SUVs in Juarez has to rank among the most beautifully shot scenes that we have seen in a while, with a combination of breath-taking shots of Mexican landscapes, Juarez and its streets, incredible tension building up inside the vehicles, and how the different characters handle it. Roger Deakin's cinematography is flawless, as expected. Whether portraying a dry, sunny afternoon in Arizona or a nightly tactical operation with agents wearing night vision goggles, Deakins' contribution shines in every possible way. The same can be said about the soundtrack and the editing.

One thing that truly surprised me is how Sicario makes its point. It is intended to leave you with an overall impression on a global situation (the border war, the cartels, the way government agencies operate, etc.), and the actual story and characters become purposely subsidiary in that depiction of a broader picture. This is just another day in this war, just another set of dirty tactics, just another escalation of violence, just another dozen of people among thousands doing shady things in this mess of a war on drugs.

And if there is one flaw to this film, that's where it lies, in my humble opinion. Characters and storyline are fundamentals. Without saying that these two aspects were neglected, I feel like this is where Villeneuve's film could have reached that next level, but unfortunately didn't, by keeping everything so vague, and so volatile.

I'm not going to sugar coat it: Emily Blunt's character is one-dimensional. Her performance is good, but the character has a very simple purpose in the whole picture, and it never goes beyond that. Some secondary characters get enough screen time to let you think that they'll eventually have a true impact on the story, or be part of some sub-plot. Here again, some minor disappointments as a result. Again, it's part of a mechanism to make everyone look like a tiny dot in the big picture, but prevented me from being truly compelled by the story unfolding and most of the characters that were part of it.

Josh Brolin's and Benicio Del Toro's performances are both amazing, though. Again, you do not get to know a lot about them. That being said, the few times when you get to see more than just what's on the surface, you'll get enough hints to partly understand their true nature. But again, you'll notice that I had to use the word "partly", especially when it comes to Brolin's character. A lot is left unexplained. And while this opens up a world of possibilities where speculations get darker by the minute, I was left wanting to know more when the credits started rolling.

Overall, Sicario succeeded in leaving me feeling deceived, just like I was an extension of Kate Macer. The way it operates is quite unique, as a lot of unexplained details, characters, and events leave the viewer speculating in an environment filled with lies, shadiness, and broken ideals. The visuals and the soundtrack will blow you away. Also, the final scene was a perfect way to seal the deal, and goes perfectly in line with the "big picture" approach that this film takes.

Overall, a very entertaining drama/thriller, full of technical brilliance, and some slightly flawed fundamentals. Definitely worth a watch.

Hard to find a thriller like Sicario these days , watch it! My thought is that a good Thriller title is the hardest case you can go for as a movie maker .A good thriller has to keep you hooked and in tense for the whole movie ,worst case for most of the movie.Sicario manages to provide the right amount of thrill and action in a way it keeps you interested through all of the time.Sure it had its flaws and sometimes i was a little disappointed with the decision the writers made with this one but when i look at the whole picture its coming up as a very good film , i honestly couldn't stop watching and was a little sad when it was over. I must say though that this movie has a political opinions in it that you cant overlook and it can be a little con for some viewers. Overall , this movie is truly a gem to Hollywood industry right now , very well written and directed plus it has outstanding cast.

This is like the stuff you see on hour long serialized Television like Netflix's Narcos, but instead this police like drama is done in a two hour movie instead of thirteenth episodes.

Emily Blunt was amazing in her character, a good FBI agent who feels she's not doing enough on the streets and allows herself to get used by someone with more power, played by Josh Brolin brilliantly as a man who seems uncharismatic about his job in order to hide the covert nature of his mission to find the big man responsible for all the street crime.

Brolin played a necessary evil, that comes off brilliantly in the narrative that plays out. Loved how they go from the bottom and get to the very top. It's very surgical.

But the actor who stole the show in Sicario is Benicio del Toro whose character Alejandro, is a cloud of mystery that unravels slowly through the film, done both subtle and dramatic by Del Toro. Every time he was on the screen even when he did nothing he was doing something and you he demanded your attention.

Plus the music and sound combo of the movie added to the tension. it was powerful.

Incredible action-thriller.

Sicario is a good movie. A really good movie with excellent direction, cinematography, and tight-knit action which is never overdone. Every actor plays their part to near perfection, and the story is beautifully told--with barely any fluff and.no useless extravagance.

It could, however, have been a truly great movie if Emily Blunt and Daniel Kaluuya's characters were not in it ... or if they had been given different roles. Both actors did fine jobs ... but both their characters were quite simply pointless.

Kate Mercer (Emily Blunt) adds nothing to the story except a needless--and quite half-hearted--moral compass who cries, whines, and delivers empty threats while contributing nothing to the investigation.

Reggie Wayne (Daniel Kaluuya) does, if possible, even less. He is an arrogant, holier-than-thou, uninvited tag-along voice of reason who insists on being present without ever giving any real reason for it, and seems far too interested in his partner Kate's bra ... and her general appearance.

Left to Del Toro and Brolin, with the time wasted on Blunt and Kaluuya instead being spent on greater plot development, Sicario could have been a much better movie!

The badlands of the US - Mexico border and the viciousness of the drug trade running across it sets the background and the tone for this movie. It's grim. Human life is very cheap and the movie doesn't flinch from showing consequences. There are definitely some scenes that are not for the faint hearted, but there is nothing gratuitous here. If anything - despite the subject matter - the film goes out of its way to avoid Hollywood heroics.

Emily Blunt does an amazing job portraying Kate Macy, a career policewoman heading a SWAT team. Her accent slips slightly a couple of times, but otherwise she's utterly believable as born and raised in the deep south of the US. Kate is a fundamentally decent, honorable human being, trying to the right thing in a world where the rule book doesn't seem to work any more. She's smart, tough, and experienced - but right from the start of the movie, it's clear that she's in over her head.

The tension never lets up. An attack could come at any moment, from any direction. Anything could be a trap. All of it, no matter how extreme something is, plays as real. The director manages scenes expertly to avoid any clean and easy action movie clichés, and it pays off enormously as the movie goes on.

It's also a highly intelligent movie, made for an intelligent audience. It doesn't lay things out on a plate. Instead you have to pay attention and you have to think, just as Kate has to - because her first mistake could be her last.

Staging, costuming, sets, cinematography, and lighting are all perfect. Some airborne shots in particular stand out as both daring and stunningly original, clearly showing just how harsh the landscape is, while managing to propel the story forward - without showing anyone, no less. This part of the movie is in the "As good as it gets" category. The only part that I didn't like (and the reason that this doesn't get a 10 from me) was the music. It's used deliberately to heighten tension during some scenes which would otherwise break the feel of the movie, and generally it's done well, but some scenes are spoiled with a There Will Be Blood styled screech. It's really not needed, especially since Sicario's own score manages to build or maintain tension quite successfully in other parts of the movie while remaining low-key.

To my mind, this is much more of a drama than it is a thriller. It's certainly not an action movie. The acting from the support cast is exactly what it needs to be - good in general, and great when a minor character is the focal point - but look closely at how much Benicio del Toro manages to do with no dialogue and not even all that much movement. Simply amazing.

This is a great movie to see if you want to be challenged.