mostly good

Rating: 7/10 (21 September 2018)

In the southwestern U.S. , an FBI agent (Emily Blunt) is assigned to work for a CIA boss (Josh Brolin) and his associate (Benicio del Toro) in order to break into the leadership of a Mexican drug cartel that was responsible for a kidnapping operation in Arizona .
Among the law enforcers, "Sicario" gives us the traditional battle between those who go by the book (Blunt) vs. those who just want to get things done (Brolin and del Toro). The performances are all good especially del Toro as a human-turned-animal whose presence is a force of nature. Sadly, the story lacks enough character development that might have added more heft in the conflicts involving principle.
The true star of the film is the powerful direction by Denis Villeneuve. Every scene, even those with stillness, has an eerie edge that leaves viewers feeling like they've entered the dark side. There are also a few crowd/action scenes that are brilliantly executed with just the right amount of build-up tension leading to the action. While the film has the expected amount of violence, Villeneuve takes different approaches to minimize the effect such as scenes that show only the shooter but not the victims.
Villeneuve has an impressive list of films highlighted by (in my opinion) "Polytechnique" (2009). "Sicario" is his second Hollywood film, "Prisoners" (2013) being the other. Both are good films but I feel each is a build-up to his eventual Hollywood masterpiece (maybe more than one) that is yet to come. I can hardly wait for the event.