Denis Villeneuve Scores Again with One of 2015's Best

Rating: 9/10 (18 September 2016)

Denis Villeneuve continues to knock 'em dead with (in my opinion) his best film yet: SICARIO. I took interest in the man with his 2013 double-punch of PRISONERS and ENEMY (both of which are great films) but SICARIO was the only one I loved so much that I immediately texted a couple buddies and told them they need to watch. From the moment it started with the raid on a cartel stash house in an Arizona suburb, I was locked in and it never lost steam. I love this movie; it might be my favorite of 2015. Emily Blunt is FBI agent Kate Macer, a successful career woman who is given the opportunity to volunteer for an inter-agency operation that plans to go after some of the more powerful cartel heads. She's placed on a team run by CIA agent Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) with assistance from a mysterious D.O.D. consultant named Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro). Graver and Alejandro keep her in the dark on the overarching details of their operation but she begins to question the legality when the men seem to be bending the law in the name of justice. It all culminates in one final mission when Graver and his team have done enough damage to the cartel's local business to send a minor boss running back to Mexico, falling right into line with their plans to cripple the organization. When Graver's methods cross the line, Macer finds herself in a maelstrom of violence where the end may not justify the means.
I love everything about SICARIO. The performances. The cinematography. The story. The music. Everything comes together so perfectly. Emily Blunt has proved in recent years that she's more than capable of handling the meatier roles with EDGE OF TOMORROW from 2014 proving she's an effective action hero and SICARIO giving her the chance to up the ante in a more realistic violent environment. Her character, Macer, acts as the audience surrogate in this world. She's seen some rough times in her career but she struggles with the cartel's level of brutality. When she begins to understand that the American task force has adapted some shady methods of its own to combat it, she's not ready to accept it as the best course of action. When she learns of Graver and Alejandro's objective and the truth behind her inclusion in the task force to begin with, it's a gut punch and Blunt nails all of it. Brolin does a fantastic job as the jovial Graver but he's overshadowed by Blunt and Del Toro. Del Toro is the other knockout performance in SICARIO. His character is an enigma. All we learn at the start is that he is a "D.O.D. consultant" but it's not readily made clear what his role is. He keeps to himself and seems to have a pretty good understanding of cartel operations, but his real mission doesn't come out until the end. He gets his big moment at the end and we learn this is a man in pain, and he's turned that pain into a weapon. Del Toro absolutely kills it in one of his best roles ever.
Another aspect of SICARIO I thought was a great touch was how Villeneuve shows us both sides of the coin. Mexico isn't our enemy. The cartels are our enemy. The problem is how much the cartels have ingrained themselves in the Mexican economy. Throughout the movie, we occasionally cut away to a nondescript Mexican family. The father is a police officer and works odd hours, often missing out on time with his son. We're given a chance to invest a little in this quiet three-person family before we learn who this man is, how he plays into the main story and what his fate will be, and then we're left to wonder about the future of his family. SICARIO presents the war against the cartels as bad for everyone. Lives are ruined. Morals are abandoned. And worst of all, there appears to be no clear end in sight. Everyone loses. SICARIO is a seriously bleak film but I love that it doesn't pull any punches or try to sugarcoat its message. This isn't an action movie in line with the Bourne films or anything of that nature; SICARIO is very much a psychological drama. I watch this movie and it's rumbling around my head for a couple days after it's over. I can't recommend this movie enough to anyone and I can't wait to see what Villeneuve brings us next.