Not a Hollywood/American Morality Piece

Rating: 8/10 (29 October 2017)

There are many reviews here that go over why Sicario is a good movie, and I agree with many of them for a variety of reasons, so I won't add to the pile of praise.
And for the record, I will say that I don't think this movie is the best thing sliced bread by any means, but it is a solid film.
What I will offer is a word to some of those that disliked the movie for reasons I actually find quite silly and misguided.
However, before that I will point out that there are people who claim the movie didn't click with them for a variety of "movie" reasons, and it simply wasn't their thing. This is totally fine, of course, because every single person is entitled to their personal feelings of *enjoyment* of a movie.
But what is objectively wrong is when critiques of this film are based on false pretenses and expectations.
There are two very wrong critiques of this movie:
1. The first set of critiques that are misguided are the ones that claim this movie has no real central plot or character development. They often frame their points by beating up Emily Blunt's character, and claiming how the plot built up but didn't real do much with itself at the end.
This is simply not true.
I will suggest that perhaps the frustration here for those who claim this is that they did not get to see a classic Hollywood morality tale when it comes to law enforcement.
There was no central character, agency, or group who in the middle of this drug cartel mess are morally righteous or easy to side with.
There wasn't even fully an anti-hero.
This film explores the moral ambiguity of the USA/Mexico/Latin America drug cartel/war issues, and tops it off by making a clear point that this mess of moral ambiguity and cycle of violence MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE affects people who are innocent and never asked to be a part of the mess that is the drug trade/war.
Just because the film mostly follows those involved with law enforcement in the U.S. doesn't mean that you should expect a clear-cut good vs. evil story, and that's exactly the way it is in real life.
2. Another set of critiques levied against this movie centers around Emily Blunt's character being surrounded by a mess of people doing a bunch of violent things etc., and how her character seems to be caught in the middle of everything with no real capability to change the events and outcomes around her.
These critiques go further to explain how the movie portrays law enforcement in the drug war as an arena of violence with a bunch of higher-ups running around calling the shots, while underlings carrying out the dirty work on both sides without really having an authority on the outcome of their situation.
I would invite anyone who feels they agree with that "critique" of the film after watching the movie to really re-read the two paragraphs I wrote above and decide if that's an accurate representation of the drug war or not.
If you're expecting a movie like this to reflect the "reality" of the drug war by serving up a John Wayne type character taking heroic and full control of a dangerous situation and solving the problems of the world, then I would sincerely suggest that you ask yourself if you have a realistic view on the drug war itself.
After all is said and done, Sicario, isn't a good vs. evil movie about the drug war, nor is it an action-thriller about law enforcement and the drug war.
This movie is about the wandering and hopeless feeling that ongoing violence creates, regardless of who is involved. It is accented by the point that getting involved in these situations (no matter the side you're on) requires you to sacrifice what you think is right or wrong to a degree, and reminds you of the terribly unfortunate human collateral damage caused by the ongoing cycle of the drug war—both physical and spiritual.