Out of this world experience of an old material

Rating: 10/10 (26 September 2015)

There is sequence during the middle of the movie that has a team of US Army Delta Force, CIA, and Mexican Drug Enforcement Agency guys entering the crime zone of a dangerous city in Mexico. These are about 4 to 5 vehicles. They going to extract a drug world kingpin for interrogation and take him to US Soil. This is such an intense sequence, visually from cars moving in and out of US/Mexican Border to local police joining to escort them, and then it ends with a gunfight upon return.
All of it sounds familiar or old material. Yeah, right but when you see it you will realize that an old material only handled differently creates an experience we call, tour de force movie making. This is pure example of method directing. Sicario's story line initially presents itself as a tired material seen hundreds of times, but the way it makes you feel about it by Denis Villenueve's Direction, cinematographer and actors is unimaginable.
What am I trying to say, for example in the sequence I mentioned earlier, these cars are filled with macho, good looking, brawny US Forces and Mexican Drug Enforcement, you hear them rant and laugh during the whole sequence. You are thinking that few of them will sure get killed while in a gunfight that could possibly be approaching any minute. But by the time the particular scene ends, yes with a gunfight, you realize that all of them are thoughtful and not trigger happy conventional thriller movie's supporting characters. They handle the situation as if they understand that all of them need to get alive out of this situation. They feel same even for the bad guys.
This sequence actually laid the foundation of how the rest of the movie is going to be and especially what you are going to experience in the third act. This one kept topping itself and pulse pounding throughout the course of 2 hours.
Emily Blunt character starts out as FBI Agent working on kidnapping case gets enlisted by government task force. She is up for it but not prepared for what she will know as the operation will near its end. This movie articulately handles the cost of war on drugs and its effect on life of an average Mexican and many Americans. How a Non Civil Government Agencies and Military Forces have high interest in War on Drugs and uses or misuse all the resources that are within or not under their jurisdiction to win this war.
Emily Blunt and Benecio Del Toro characters are at the center of all of this. These are best and Oscar Worthy performances we have seen to date this year. There is something so weird and scary about Benicio Del Toro playing the seemingly sinister character with some sort of Mexican Drug Cartel connections. But he is the one that keeps us guessing is he the bad guy or the good? And believe me he does it till the very last. His breakthrough performance was The USUAL SUSPECTS (1995), low profile but memorable performances in SNATCH (2000), Oscar Winning role in TRAFFIC (2001) and my all-time favorite, THE HUNTED (2003), he has never looked back since then. His mannerism while playing such characters makes you an instant fan of his work.
Emily Blunt's character however has an edge to it. She wants to do the right things but yet remained involved in whatever wrong is going on around her. She is suspicious right from the beginning but gives in to the hope that she is going to nail the bad guy. She is careful and brave, midway during the movie we see her behave like an every female character that needs to be rescued, but the very last scene pays off by telling that she has courage to do what is needed but also understands the cost associated with it. So she may or may not do what seems right according to her idealist approach.
I was also amazed by the cinematography and minimum use of background score. There are cinematographers that capture an exotic location beautifully and then there are Visual Artists like Roger Deakins (Skyfall, No Country of Old Men) that makes you feel that the landscape we are watching are the characters in the movie. This cinematographer captures the barren, crime filled, god forsaken land in a way less seen in crime thrillers.
At few point during the movie the characters speak so slow that we barely hear them, but then as the movies progresses, we realize that these are people who are very much aware of the consequences of what they may or may not say and it will ultimately affect the outcome they foresee.
Like I said from the beginning till the end the movie makes you keep guessing what is going to become of the story, you are waiting for a bad guy to be revealed, but movie takes an unconventional way in explaining why each of the character is doing whatever they are doing.
This one comfortably takes one of the slots among my top 10 movies this year. What an amazing movie experience.