Brooding thriller with murky morals which is strong enough to carry it through a final third that is not quite what the majority of the film is

Rating: Null/10 (30 December 2015)

Aside from hearing positive things about this film, I had really not heard too much specific on it. I knew it was a drug-related film but such detail doesn't tell you how it will approach it – whether it will be Awards-bait 'issues' film, an action movie, or what. In the case of Sciario it is certainly a thriller which uses as its base a world direct from the headlines. The film opens with a tense and violent SWAT incursion, setting a tone that it keeps for the whole film. In place of big action sequences what we get is a slow-burn, where sequences are drawn out, tension, and (if they have violence) tend to have sudden and decisive moments. I have read some complaining that this makes it feel slow paced or dull, however for me it worked really well.
Within this thriller, there is a pleasing moral murkiness to it. The viewer is asked to constantly revise who we are supporting and why; and rather than provide us an easy answer at any point, the film leaves us in roundly murky territory, which does feel realistic and satisfyingly bleak. Not all of the film does feel realistic though, and the specifics of the final third are perhaps not in keeping with the tone of the narrative up till that point. Personally I found that the film had done enough to keep me with it so that I went with the narrative when it went off in a specific direction – mainly because it added to the sense of the film being grey morally.
The cast are strong throughout, with Blunt, Del Toro, and Brolin, all play their characters well, with a smartness that informs in retrospect as well as in the moment. The supporting cast has plenty of well known faces giving good turns but without distracted by the 'where do I know him from?' factor – specifically Garber, Bernthal, and a brief appearance from Donovan. British Kaluuya is pretty impressive in his role and was a surprise find since I had only before seen him in an episode of Black Mirror. The directing and editing of the film works to the tension, and the camera is used really well to keep the viewer in the scene and feel that tension and feeling of the unknown throughout.
Sicario is a strong thriller, which benefits from solid characters, a morally murky narrative, and a consistent brooding tension which is used well to give way to moments of sudden, brutal, and all too believable violence.