"The land of the wolves."

Rating: 9/10 (12 February 2016)

Talking to a fellow IMDber,I got told about a gritty 2015 Crime Thriller which explored the War on Drugs.After being taken by the tantalising trailer,I decided that it was time to meet the sicario (hit-man in Spanish.)
The plot:
Going on a raid for suspected kidnappers,FBI agents Kate Macer & Reggie Wayne discover dozens of corpses hidden in the walls.As Macer and Wayne get the bodies out,other FBI agents search round the area and hit an IED that kills two agents.Furious about the IED attack,Macer and Wayne are transferred to a special task force led by CIA Special Activities agent Matt Graver,which is being set up to track down cartel hit-man Manuel Díaz.
Meeting Graver and fellow task force agent Alejandro Gillick,Macer and Wayne are told that the plan is to cross the boarder in order to extradite Díaz brother Guillermo.As the extradition starts to take place,Macer begins to wonder if the line between the cartel and the law is becoming blurred.
View on the film:
Following Macer and Wayne on a raid,director Denis Villeneuve and cinematographer Roger Deakins give the film a tough,gritty appearance,as burnt out yellows and dry whites are cast across the Mexico/US boarder,with stylised wide panning shots capturing unfolding outbreaks of attacks on the horizon of the endless deserts.Avoiding the use of "shaky cam", Villeneuve & Deakins immense the audience in the task force activities with long,jagged tracking shots,which along with staying close to the action,also gives the movie an elegant depth of field which gives the action scenes a real crunch.
Bringing Macer and Wayne in as outsiders,the debut screenplay by Taylor Sheridan, (who co-starred in the excellent "Hamlet" biker TV crime Drama series Sons of Anarchy) largely stays away from exposition on the War on Drugs,with Sheridan instead throwing them and the viewer into the middle of the task force,as frantic bursts of gunfire are joined by blunt,point-blank dialogue being shot across the screen.Dipping into the shadows of Film Noir,Sheridan shows the actions of the gangs and task force to be two sides of the same coin,as Díaz acts of brutality to keep his underworld empire burning,are joined by the task force using "enhanced" methods and the bringing in of "outsiders" to get the upper hand in a never ending war.
Trimming 90% of his characters dialogue and looking super cool, (has he ever not looked cool?!) Benicio Del Toro gives an incredible performance as Alejandro. Striding across the screen like a Film Noir loner,Del Toro displays a clinical skill in the releasing of Alejandro's feelings/emotions,by keeping his cards/motives close to chest until Alejandro's enemies let their guard down,and Del Toro sends his "wolf" on the attack.Taking on the Diaz cartel with a straight- lace appearance, Josh Brolin gives a great performance as Graver,whose ridged by the book manner gets wonderfully twist & turned by Brolin,as Graver uses his quick-wits to find "outside" methods in taking on the drugs war.Joining the task force as the eyes and ears of the viewer, Emily Blunt gives an excellent performance as Macer,thanks to Blunt giving Macer a fragile purity over her belief about how they should take on the cartel,which shatters on a merciless final note,as Macer finds herself in the land of the wolves.