Sicario

Sicario

Starring Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin, Daniel Kaluuya

Directed by Denis Villeneuve

The Story:
FBI Agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) works at the Critical Incident Response Group, and follows up on a lead of a missing person.  After their discovery ends in much more than she expected, she finds herself beginning a wild adventure.  She's enlisted by the mysterious Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) and Alejandro Gillick (Benicio del Toro) to head to Mexico to bring in a drug cartel leader back to America.  Kate begins to feel in over her head, and demands answers from Matt and Alejandro, to no avail.  As the drug war intensifies, Kate learns they plan to use the captured drug leader to flush out an even bigger drug dealer, in hopes of preventing more illegal drugs coming across the border.  Yet, all is not as it seems, and it seems everyone around Kate has ulterior motives that they're not being fully honest about, leaving her confused and unsure who to trust.

The Synopsis:
What do you get when you mix Denis Villeneuve, Roger Deakins, Taylor Sheridan, Johann Johannsson, Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, and Benicio del Toro?  You get a film that hits amazingly on every cylinder, from directing to writing; from sound to cinematography; from acting to action.  You get a film that digs itself into your memory, leaves you in awe, and makes you a better person for having viewed it.

According to definition, the word "Sicario" derives from the Latin word "Sicarius," meaning "dagger man."  The term was used by Romans to describe Jewish zealots who killed Roman citizens using a "sica" or small dagger hidden in their cloaks.  However, in Mexico, the word "Sicario" has a different meaning - "hitman."  Thus this is the backdrop of the tale we're about to witness, and I was glad they mentioned that at the beginning of the film because I wondered what the word meant.

The film then opens with an unforgettable visual spectacle, one that you hopefully will never witness in real life.  Basically, it makes anything you see from Jason Voorhees or Freddy Kruger look like a day at Disneyland, and it is definitely unsettling, setting the stage for what will be an entire film where you find yourself on the edge of your seat, not expecting what will happen next.   This takes the war on drugs and escalates it to epic proportions, where the good guys do bad things - but for good reasons - and you never know who you can fully trust.  There's also existential quandaries that make you think long and hard about things you've never thought of before, and wonder if the saying "the ends justify the means" really holds true in every instance.

Denis Villeneuve is one of today's most powerful directors, who has yet to direct an actual failure (some might consider "Blade Runner 2049" a commercial bomb, but it's far from terrible - it's just not everyone's cup of tea), and "Sicario" is just another addition to his ever-growing masterpiece repertoire.  He manages to combine so many different parts into a cohesive whole that's downright revolutionary, and his keen eye for directing is rather unparalleled.  If a film says "directed by Denis Villeneuve," you know you're in for something special, and "Sicario" doesn't disappoint.

Roger Deakins, who's worked with Villeneuve often, gives his classic amazing eye for cinematography here (and earned him his thirteenth Oscar nomination), and it's no wonder why it's so amazing.  He's done cinematography work for some of today's most prolific films including "The Shawshank Redemption," "Prisoners," "Skyfall," "Fargo," and "No Country for Old Men," and finally won the elusive Oscar for his work in Villeneuve's "Blade Runner 2049."  The film is a feast for the eyes, as Deakins manages to keep the action so close to the vest that you're shocked when it happens, after leaving your heart beating in excited palpitations for the moment to occur.  Then there's his overall filming style that is truly extraordinary.  There's several scenes that blew my mind, from Blunt and Brolin's characters having an interaction far away from the lens, to the sun setting over a desert land as the characters prepare, to the use of night vision and infrared in equal measure.  There's not just one scene that stands out - they're all equally amazing and jaw dropping, thanks to Deakins' brilliant mind.

When it comes to sound, Villeneuve often relies on Johann Johannsson to produce unforgettable tones and tunes, and he doesn't fail here.  Villeneuve told Johannsson he wanted a sound of a threat, along the lines of "Jaws," and Johannsson delivered with a tonal melody that shatters your soul, knowing that something bad is on the horizon, even if you can't see it yet.

Scriptwriter Taylor Sheridan has written some amazing work (including "Hell or High Water" and "Wind River," both of which are spectacles in their own right), and here he manages to produce a tale that's intelligent, nuanced, and mind-bending.  He shows us through the eyes of Blunt's Kate the true insanity that comes with the war on drugs, as she (and us) doesn't know who to trust.  There's several moments of dialogue that reverberates through, facing us with moral conundrums that we wouldn't have expected.

Then there's the trio of masterclass actors who deliver performances beyond reproach.  Even though she's the main character listed, Emily Blunt's Kate is actually the most underwritten of the three, but it's done with a purpose - we need to see this world through her eyes, a world that she never knew existed until she was pushed there without a parachute.  She doesn't know what's going on most of the time - and neither do we.  This adds high tension to the film that would've been missing from a more confident lead character, and it's not something we see in many movies nowadays.  Blunt blends cold steel nerve with insecurity and trepidation like two sides of the same coin, and succeeds in both.

Josh Brolin plays the mysterious Department of Justice joint task force leader Matt Graver, who truly relishes on not giving out all the information.  He keeps his cards close to the vest, and we don't know if he's truly a good guy or not, or if what he does is fully moral, but it's still a thrill to see.

Yet the major performance comes from Oscar winner Benicio del Toro, who can give Javier Bardem a run for his money.  As the shady, mysterious Alejandro (much like Bardem's Anton from "No Country for Old Men"), del Toro chooses to let his facial expressions and actions do the talking, as he doesn't utter many lines in the film (purposefully done by Villeneuve, who wanted del Toro's character to have a more mysterious quality to him).  You never know what the man is thinking, or who he's going to turn his gun on next, and you just sit back and wait for whatever insane thing he's going to do next - and you're never disappointed, as several moments left me gasping in shock and excitement.

So when you add all these ingredients together, you get an unforgettable film that's as perfect as they come, one that demands to be seen to be believed.

The Summary:
Mixing brilliant directing with exceptional acting, stunning cinematography, a tight intelligent story, and a sound that will echo in your mind, "Sicario" hits all the right notes and leaves you feeling like you just witnessed something extraordinary on screen.

The Score: A+