Five Word Review: Tense, Intelligently Relevant, Superb Everything

Rating: 8/10 (25 July 2016)

Another feather in Denis Villeneuve's highly feathered cap (Prisoners, Enemy), Sicario has been described as being to the War on Drugs what Zero Dark Thirty was to the War on Terror. The excellent Emily Blunt, acting as the audience surrogate and protagonist, plays an FBI agent embroiled in a mysterious plan in the Mexican town of Juarez. Leading her team are the laid-back yet enigmatic Josh Brolin and Benicio del Toro, oozing cool mystery and threatening menace.
As Blunt's character finds out more about the operation being run, we also find out more, adding tension to an already tense film. And tension is one of the primary ingredients in the piece - scenes are often nail-biting and at their conclusion do not be surprised if you find yourself letting out a held-in breath. This is achieved in multiple ways. Jóhan Jóhannsson's excellent score - the standout of which is the dread-filled track 'The Beast', playing multiple times and conveying the terror and horror of the situation. Roger Deakins, nominated thirteen times for the Academy Award for Cinematography without winning, makes Sicario look exquisite, with memorable shots such as the silhouettes of a Delta squad framed against the setting sun, descending into a tunnel to root out cartel members. Numerous aerial shots make it look like characters are being watched by drones. Emmanuel Lubezki did fantastic work on The Revenant, yet it seems a crying shame that Deakins should miss out for his fine work.
Best of all is the acting. Del Toro's performance has been widely praised, but Blunt is the standout here, expertly showcasing her character's descent and the PTSD and disillusionment she develops as she gets further into the murky situation. Brolin, all sandals and faux-Southern-friendliness, is the best he's been in anything, whilst del Toro deservedly wins the plaudits with a performance that really comes into its own towards the film's end, as more about his character is revealed, and almost evokes Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men at times. It will be interesting to see his performance as a purported villain in Star Wars: Episode VIII. Every technical aspect of the film is perfect - right down to the Oscar-nominated sound editing, with gunshots sounding realistically loud and jolting. Villeneuve's direction ensures moral complexity for the characters, despite Brolin and del Toro's truly despicable actions.
Really there are only a few things preventing it from reaching the very top tier. At times, some plot elements are unnecessarily unclear - sometimes this works as Blunt's character as the audience surrogate is meant to be in the dark, yet sometimes the vagueness is irritating. Also, occasional scenes verge on dragging too long, and some of the dialogue borders on cliché-speak. Yet ultimately, this does not prevent Sicario from being one of the best films of all of 2015, and an important watch to understand the USA's War on Drugs. 87/100.