Director: Denis Villeneuve
By Alex Watson
Slowly burning tension from the opening frame, Denis Villeneuve delivers one of the finest efforts of 2015 with Sicario. This story of the FBI attempting to bring down a Mexican cartel is one that is thoroughly heart-stopping and excellently creates a sense of unease about the situation unfolding. Aided by some gorgeous and striking cinematography by veteran Roger Deakins and a cracking and unpredictable script by Taylor Sheridan, Villeneuve succeeds in drawing us in a world where the law has been long forgotten.
Kate Macy (Emily Blunt) is a member of the FBI Kidnapping team, but when a raid in Arizona goes wrong a media firestorm ensues. A Mexican cartel has operated dangerously close to the border which prompts official Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) to convince to join a task force to bring them down. When she arrives in Juarez, Mexico she discovers that this teams approach to bring down the enemy is a bewildering one. Also the arrival of shady operative Alejandro (Benecio Del Toro) only heightens her suspicions.
"This is a land of wolves" says Alejandro at one stage and Villeneuve early on throws into a world where ruthlessness reigns supreme. A thrilling opening raid on a cartel safe-house sets the tone, purely for the fact the aftermath is one of extreme horror. Shaken by this revelation, Kate desires to do good joining Graven, only to find a more frightening discovery. Everywhere there is a lurking sense of dread and the lack of explanation about Alejandro only adds fuel to the fire. A buttoned down and silence presence who goes "where I am sent" underneath there lies a traumatized and unscrupulous figure who idea of justice is a nauseating one.
Kate is always struggling to understand what motives are at stake with Graven's operation? When it becomes clear that his wish is to break the rules of engagement and strike fear into cartel hearts, events take a turn into more dangerous territory. One moment while transporting a key figure back to US soil sees them stuck in traffic on the Bridge of the Americas. Knuckles tighten as they look around for potential shooters, only to Kate's horror they casual execute several members in broad daylight! There are blurred lines of procedure and Graven's macho and cynical attitude only serves to push her ideals even further down.
What starts as a simple operation broadens into a much wider picture and Villeneuve skillfully alert us that wiping out this cartel might be the main idea. Sicario boasts a superb paranoid edge to it and we are able to engage with Kate's fears and doubts about what has become involved with. Villeneuve's shows himself a capable director and masterfully handles the movies heavier qualities with ease. His finale set against an all or nothing raid on a key cartel site is almost like something out a video game with its infra-red camera use. His last message though is the most potent that law is sometimes brutally enforced by the lawless.
Emily Blunt is an inspired piece of casting for the picture and she is able to bring across a steely resolve mixed with a heavy fragility. Kate is a woman who brings across a sense of confidence in what she wants to achieve, but gradually Blunt gives her character a terrific sense of disillusion in the movies later stage. Josh Brolin is a forceful presence and his jokey and scornful approach to bring down his enemies makes him almost as much of a villain as it does ally. Benicio Del Toro steals the supporting honors with a masterclass in repressed emotion combined with fearlessness.
Denis Villeneuve has finally made the cross over from his earlier more psychological work and proves a stunning and adept action thriller director. Sicario is one of the most tense and absorbing films you will have the pleasure of seeing in 2015
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