What was the tone supposed to be here?

Rating: Null/10 (31 January 2017)

Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) is an FBI agent working in Arizona to take down the Mexican drug cartel and their distributors within US. She gets recommended to a joint task force that is designed to take the fight to the enemy on the other side of the border. The team consists of long time veterans of the drug war and it quickly becomes clear that Kate is very much not in the know.
Sicario was directed by Denis Villeneuve, who has made a lot of noise recently in the film circles and whose scifi film Arrival is just about to be released. Personally I've seen from him the movie Prisoners. It was a nihilistic, overly dark thriller about the darkness of human condition. It seemed to hate humanity and life in general, setting as its goal to drag the viewer down to dirt with it and make him realize that it's a miserable planet to live on. Deep down everyone is rotten and flawed, most people think only of themselves and even altruistic people are prevented from doing much by those around them. In a word it was depressing.
Sicario is the same.
Now, to be fair, it is a very professional movie. The cinematography is gorgeous, especially the slow panning shots of Mexico. The realistic style serves the subject matter well. The dialogue is, if not overly memorable, at least interesting enough to follow. And the final confrontation between a member of the task force and the drug cartel boss is a great piece of cinema without a doubt. It's intense, filled with hinted backstory and suitably brutal in its conclusion, fitting the movie as a whole.
But here's the problem. The said confrontation is not between Kate and the drug boss. Instead it's Benecio del Toro's character that confronts the boss. And del Toro's character is by far the best in the whole movie. He has the most backstory, the best presence and the most memorable characteristics. So why wasn't the movie about him in the first place? And believe me, I have absolutely no problems with seeing Emily Blunt in a role requiring her to be tough and action-oriented. I know she can pull it off. But in this movie her character is a tool. Now, she is a tool on purpose, because it fits the plot, but it makes the movie aggravating to watch from the audience point of view, because we feel alongside her that we have nothing to contribute. That we have no control. That we're only being used. And yes, that is an intentional choice on the film makers' part, but it's one I cannot agree with.
And that's Sicario. It's a well-made crime thriller and probably well-deserving of its praise. I just personally hate its message, its whole style. I don't watch movies to realize that the world is an ugly place. I don't watch them to be depressed. As such, this movie has earned my scorn.