Every year I’m always waiting to watch that one really good movie that I will like more than any of the other new releases that year. The only movie to come close to being my number one for this year is Mad Max: Fury Road. I gave Fury Road a perfect rating although I can’t deny other people’s criticisms of it most specifically when it comes to people criticizing the simple plot. After seeing the trailer for Sicario I wasn’t expecting too much and then it started to get a lot of buzz. After seeing Sicario I can’t say that it has beat out Fury Road for me but it sure is a close second.
Sicario is about an FBI agent named Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) who leads a task force team that specializes in hostage response in relation to Mexican drug cartels in Arizona. The violence is getting worse and Kate feels as though they are just a cleanup crew until she is recruited by Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) who is a mysterious consultant that Kate doesn’t know much about. Matt takes Kate along with him to Juarez, Mexico to extract a top ranking member of a drug cartel along with a large team of other military and police personnel. Another member of that team is Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro) who at first is quiet, but Kate soon learns that he was originally a lawyer. Kate starts to realize that Matt and Alejandro are holding back information from her and she is starting to get suspicious.
Emily Blunt is on a pretty good streak after having been in two really good sci-fi movies like Looper (2012) and Edge of Tomorrow (2014). Here in Sicario she uses her athletic presence that she had in Edge of Tomorrow although don’t expect Sicario to be an action movie. This movie is mostly a character study and Blunt’s character is portrayed as exhausted and tired, but you admire her for wanting to do the right things and keep trudging along. Josh Brolin appears in this movie as a slick talking government consultant guy which is interesting because he just appeared in Everest as a slick talking upper class Texan. Brolin adds a little bit of comedy to this very somber movie, but his character isn’t just a clown and as you find out more about his character you realize what a good performance he is giving. The best character in the entire movie is easily Alejandro played by Benicio Del Toro. Alejandro is an interesting and complicated character played confidently by Del Toro. I don’t want to reveal too much about the character of Alejandro because the character is very satisfying as you find out more and more about him.
The technical side of this movie was impressive and I found the cinematography to be very good. There were very interesting choices on how to shoot this movie and they almost don’t work, but I think the filmmakers skillfully pull it off. There is an interesting shot of the Juarez and El Paso border where they go along it showing the big fence. This goes right into the characters of Kate, Matt, and Alejandro along with a huge team crossing the border into Mexico to extract a high ranking cartel member. This entire sequence within the movie is amazing and follows the team in a huge motorcade of SUVs surrounded by Mexican police jeeps. It’s as if we get an entire tour of Juarez and the tension just keeps building and building as they try to get their captured man across the border. This is not only my favorite part in the movie, but it is also my second favorite sequence I’ve seen in a movie all year losing only to the big chase scene at the end of Mad Max: Fury Road.
For as much as I liked this movie I also have to point out that it is very intentionally paced. It certainly drags a bit although fortunately it never gets too dry due to the fact that it has very interesting characters. I really liked the story of the movie and I thought it unraveled pretty well, but the slow pace of the movie keeps it from going above and beyond. I don’t mind that too much because I know the filmmakers were trying pay more attention to the characters than the story which for the most part plays in the background when compared to the characters. One thing I really like about the movie is that it doesn’t take any shortcuts and use any obvious tropes. There were a few directions I thought it might go and overall it went in it’s own original direction which is very refreshing. Sicario was directed by French-Canadian director Denis Villeneuve who is best known for directing the very good film Prisoners (2013). Sicario is another success for him and I’m hoping he can keep that hot streak going considering he is set to direct the upcoming Blade Runner sequel.
Dave’s Rating- ★★★★½ (4½) out of ★★★★★(5)
