Sicario (2015)
Certified: 15
Duration: 121 minutes
Directed by: Denis Villeneuve
Starring: Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin, Daniel Kaluuya, Maximiliano Hernández, Victor Garber, Jon Bernthal, Jeffrey Donovan, Raoul Trujillo, Julio Cedillo
KRS Releasing Ltd
Emily Blunt is Kate Macer, an FBI agent who has notched up three years’ experience with the Arizona FBI kidnap response team. During an operation, in which she takes part with her partner Reggie (Daniel Kaluuya), she finds how far Mexican drug cartels have extended their influence.
The evidence is shocking and very revelatory. Others on her unit end up killed and so she joins Matt Graves (Josh Brolin) and his specially created task force.
They target Fausto Alarcon (Julio Cedillo) and his powerful drug cartel. Matt wants to get help from one of Fausto’s top men, Rafael Diaz (Raoul Trujillo). He also has Alejandro (Benicio del Toro) on his side, a former Mexican lawman-turned-hitman with a grudge against the cartel. His methods are not for the squeamish.
Kate soon realises that Graves’s methods may not be exactly legal as a mission into Mexico to bring in a suspect goes overboard.
Seeking answers, she and Reggie visit a local bar where they meet a local cop named Ted (Jon Bernthal) but things turn sour. Events start to escalate and Kate has to decide whether the methods they are using are justifiable or not and also whom to trust.
Sicario is a fresh thriller that immediately catapulted itself into my top 10 movies of 2015 and is possibly the best thriller of the year so far.
Denis Villeneuve, who directed the exceptional Prisoners (2013), returns with a lesson in storytelling. The film takes the point of view of Blunt’s character and the audience gets to feel her insecurities and sympathise with her.
This gives the film an interesting perspective as it makes the audience participate in the movie and feel the effect of every plot twist, every dangerous situation and every wrong decision. A sense of perpetual danger where the enemy is not so clear-cut permeates the film and Villeneuve exploits this to the maximum.
The director is helped immensely in his vision by one of Hollywood’s most important cinematographers. Roger Deakins gives the film a sort of arid and sparse beauty that adds to the sense of mystery and the idea of walking on a tightrope between right and wrong. There is nothing confusing or gut-twisting like the usual handheld camera style of film-making. This is simply a well-crafted movie.
The film further pummels us with an excellent soundtrack by Johan Johansson.
Couple this with strong performances by Blunt and Del Toro, who is at the top of his game. Brolin delivers with a different intensity but eschews plenty of attitude.
Overall, this is a tragic and eye-opening movie, one that needs to be recognised come awards season. It is also a template for thrillers: lean and mean and readyto take the audience on a trip into uncharted waters.