Sicario (2015)

Next up in the Oscars 2016 movies, although not up for a Best Picture nomination, it is one that I’ve been more intrigued to watch.  I’ve rented Sicario for quite a while and now that its almost hitting the end of my rental period, we decided it was a good time to give it a go.  Emily Blunt is painting herself as a female action hero of late.  I haven’t caught up with Edge of Tomorrow although I did get it so I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect.

Let’s check it out! 🙂

Sicario (2015)

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Cast: Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro, Daniel Kaluuya, Victor Garber, Julio Cedillo

An idealistic FBI agent is enlisted by a government task force to aid in the escalating war against drugs at the border area between the U.S. and Mexico.-IMDB

Its a really great feeling to not fall asleep during a movie.  Sicario is a tight-knit action thriller right from the start.  We actually started this up for dinner and the opening scene made us have to kind of pause it until after we ate to resume.  However, the powerful beginning makes the subject of this thriller even more poignant and important.  That might seem brutally intense but it was also only the start of the thrilling Sicario.  It set the tone of why our main character had to go on this journey.

Sicario never really gives you time to breath.  It has slower moments and even those moments are full of intense situations.  We’re trying to figure out what is going on.  Why is Emily Blunt’s character, Kate recruited to do this? We know why she wants to be involved but then they seem to just place her on the sidelines and when they ask her to do something else, they don’t really tell her whats going on? For that reason, us as the audience is also kept in the dark with all those questions in our heads. With that said, Emily Blunt captures her role very well.  I like this newly discovered side of Emily Blunt.  I mean, I like her in comedies and dramedies and whatnot but her as an action hero seems to work so very well also.

What does change the game quickly is the introduction of the character of Benicio del Toro. His character is mysterious and quiet. In fact, a lot of the movie is pretty quiet.  There’s some action sequences and talk but its a lot of observing and analyzing. I don’t think I’ve seen a movie with Benicio del Toro that I’m completely enthralled with but then I haven’t seen that many of his in general but this one was amazing.  He was the show-stopper.

Other than some great performances, a lot of credit goes to creating the atmosphere.  Watching Sicario felt like we were in on the action with the way the cameras moved and the movie was filmed.  Like the scene on top, they were rumbling down the streets and it felt like we were right there rumbling along.  On top of that, its a forte of Denis Villeneuve’s to choose a very analytical sort of approach to things, making it dark or mysterious, suspicious if you will and creating those feelings.  He picks topics which will impact the viewers a lot whether it was Sicario and the drug cartel or if its going back to his Quebec roots and looking at the Polytechnique massacre or making us think super hard about the meaning of Enemy. Its his style and I feel like Sicario really accentuate and could see how he is a very good filmmaker.

I don’t really have a lot to say about Sicario.  It took me a week to write up this review because I just didn’t know how to approach it.  Overall, Sicario is an exhilarating experience, putting you straight in the issue and the action and surrounding you with standout performances by Emily Blunt and Benicio Del Toro. I’ve always been a little skeptical on Denis Villeneuve but I truly want to visit and revisit some of his previous films. If you haven’t, you definitely should check out Sicario.  It might not be Best Picture material but its well worth a watch.

Have you seen Sicario? What stood out (or failed) for you in this film?