The emperor's new flack-jacket

Rating: 7/10 (3 February 2016)

From most directors, this would be a pretty good thriller with terrific action sequences and good performances from the actors, but from Denis Villeneuve, I expected more.
Where is that killer twist or the feeling that he has taken a well-worn genre – yet another drug cartel movie – and stood it on its head? He tries for a little ambiguity in the last scene, but it feels forced. The earth didn't move for me on this one.
When I first heard that the man who dazzled us with "Polytechnique", "Prisoners" and "Enemy" had picked this subject I wondered why? Now that I have seen it I definitely wonder why? I almost feel that much of the praise for the film is simply afterglow from his previous movies – and that smacks of the emperor's new clothes.
The beginning of the film is exciting, the house of death has the flavour of "Se7en", and I thought Villeneuve was really in the zone. Then there is the great cinematography and unique angles that almost transforms the Texan and Mexican landscapes into the satellite shots you see of Mars. The armed convoys of agents on the way to and from the raids in Mexico is reminiscent of those convoys that left the Green Zone in Bagdad on the Highway of Death to the International airport.
The look of the film is superb and Jóhann Jóhannsson created an edgy score, but it's the story that goes downhill for me. Towards the end when Benicio del Toro's character cuts loose on his solo effort, if I wasn't thinking of a "James Bond" film, it was Viggo Mortensen in "A History of Violence". However, that movie was based on a graphic novel – a comic book – and accepted for that. Villeneuve's movie is supposedly linked to reality and current events.
Sure Emily Blunt as FBI agent Kate Macer projects a strong women who handles her tough assignments with as much focus and determination as any guy, but that can't be the point of difference for "Sicario"; other movies have led the way in that area. The most interesting aspect of her character is the conflict she faces over the lawless methods of the 'good guys'.
Drug Cartel movies have just about blown Mafia movies away. However, I am not so sure that any director has really nailed the "Godfather" or "The French Connection" of cartel movies yet. Other than the fact that cartel gangsters are meaner than Triads and Russian Mafia combined, I have to admit I find the level of entertainment in the subject limited. Ridley Scott crashed and burned with "The Counselor", and although "Sicario" is many notches above that effort, Villeneuve hasn't been able to avoid the clichés.
Maybe that is reflected in the recent Academy Awards nominations where the film received well-deserved nominations for technical awards, and none for best picture, direction or story.