Once in a Lifetime Performances

Rating: Null/10 (1 September 2018)

I'm very surprised that this movie doesn't have higher user reviews. The acting is top rate across the board. I'm glad to see Josh Brolin getting these juicy roles...always thought he was underrated. Del Toro is always brilliant and but this is without question the performance of his career. As a men with nothing left to lose and nothing left to fear the tension lies in not knowing how much humanity is left in him. He is the embodiment of a soul damaged beyond repair. There is no hope, no repentance, no salvation and he knows it. He fulfills his destiny without pleasure or passion...he avenges his family with the cold exactitude of a surgeon performing his 100th surgery. Josh Brolin's character has a broader agenda with the Cartel as a whole while Del Toro has a singular objective. The juxtaposition between the Del Toro character and the young, new agent played by Blunt is subtle and nuanced. A lesser movie would have made the Blunt character MORE vulnerable and susceptible. She is definitely changed forever by her dealings with Del Toro and the movie allows you to question, momentarily, whether she will be able to touch a deeply buried crevice in his soul. Maybe she was...but he knows who and what he is and willfully doesn't allow access even to himself.