Sicario

Rating: 9/10 (12 October 2015)

Lord Pretentious himself, Peter Greenaway, has often spoken of how cinema has always declined in quality, especially in recent years. "Cinema is dead" etc. This is undoubtedly unfair, despite today's climate of saturation, because a fine example of cinema being well and truly alive in 2015 is this, Sicario.
Sicario follows a basic structure and one that is very familiar in Storyteller. A young whippersnapper in the FBI (Emily Blunt) is asked to join a group of under the radar operatives to get to the heart of the drug cartel in Mexico. The film has a very dark tone, presenting itself in a gritty, often horrific, crime thriller. Despite it's realism, it never resorts to hand held camera or shaky cam. The gun battles and set pieces are shot beautifully and with nail biting authenticity. Whether or not this kind of dubious stuff actually happens is irrelevant because first and foremost, the characters are believable and engaging. Josh Brolin and Emily Blunt are great but it's Benicio Del Toro who truly steals the show as a shady character who links are unknown. The film ultimately rests on his shoulders as his arc is the most complex and he pulls it off with ease.
The Director of Photography on this picture is Roger Deakins. At times, he makes the film look like a David Attenbourgh documentary with the plains of Arizona and Mexico and at other times, like a Michael Mann film. The way the cities show sparkle in both day and night are fantastically done.
Sicario is not an easy film to watch, some of the most simple actions are the most heart wrenching. Denis Villeneuve proves that by putting the characters in uncompromising situations, it will affect their lives forever and thus, the audience. Simplicity is the key to brilliance, after all.