Sicario
/“Nothing will make sense to your American ears, and you will doubt everything that we do, but in the end you will understand.”
Filmology Rating: 3 out of 4
Sicario.... I went to go this movie last night and it has taken me a while to figure out what to say about this film. I still don't know exactly how i feel about this movie. With an all star cast of Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro, I expected more out of this film. Emily Blunt has a very confusing character that lacks definition and her motives throughout this movie are unclear. She is not a character that you can really get behind and root for and that was disappointing because she is a very talented actresses. A little bit about the plot of the movie now; the movie is about the fighting the war on drugs and trying to capture on drug cartel leader to get to a bigger one and so on and so forth. Director Denis Villeneuve is known for his slow building thrillers but this one burned a little too slow for me. I really wanted to like this movie but at times it just lost my interest. This film is loved right now by the actual movie critics but from me. Having said all of these things, the film does have some great features. The film has some beautiful cinematography, and has great sound editing that makes you feel like you're there. Both of which i think will be nominated for an Oscar.
Rating: Rent It
-Nick
Darkness. Darkness is rarely explored in the level of depth that we see here in Dennis Villeneuve’s Sicario. The films exploration of darkness is not surprising when compared against Villeneuve’s previous work Prisoners. Both films focus on the darkness that can live within individuals, actions, and organizations. While Prisoners focused heavily on the darkness within individuals, Sicario focuses more on the darkness that lives within groups. Specifically, the organized drug trade in Mexico. In essence, Sicario is an unflinching look at the darkness of the organized drug trade and how groups and individuals attempt to fight it.
The story of Sicario focuses on a frustrated yet idealistic FBI agent named Kate Macer. Played by Emily Blunt, Kate serves as both the protagonist and moral compass of our story. Kate is invited to join a government task force that combats the organized drug trade at its source. The two key members of the task force include Matt Graver, played by Josh Brolin, and Alejandro, played by Benicio Del Toro. What follows after Kate’s joining of the task force is a tense thriller that slowly builds to its inevitable climax. While less eventful than some thrillers, Sicario expertly maintains its tension through Roger Deakin’s cinematography and a haunting soundtrack. The country of Mexico is often portrayed in the darkest of ways. A coiled snake ready to strike at any moment. As the story progresses, character motivations are made clear and lines are crossed.
Sicario is wonderfully acted by all those involved. Emily Blunt effectively plays the frustrated agent that reluctantly explores her own darkness as the film progresses. While some may argue that Blunt’s character is poorly defined, she does serve an essential purpose as the moral backbone of the story. Josh Brolin plays an experienced and comical government agent whose motivations are often unclear. Brolin serves as a great counterpoint to the quiet and mysterious Alejandro, played by Benicio Del Toro. Del Toro turns in possibly the best performance in the film. His character holds within him the same darkness that the group is trying to fight. The three main characters each hold their own place on an ethical spectrum. At the beginning of the film, Kate lies heavily on one side of the spectrum, with Alejandro placed clearly on the opposite side. Matt serves as the closest middle point on a spectrum that leans heavily to the dark side.
The brilliance of Sicario lies in its ability to walk a razors edge. Tension is maintained throughout the film, in spite of the fact that Sicario contains fewer dramatic moments when compared to the average thriller. A tense escort scene serves as the high point of the film, while later scenes fail to live up to the high level of tension that is developed earlier in the film. One area where Sicario struggles is maintaining its grasp on its ethics. At the beginning of the film we are led to believe that we are exploring the issue of human rights and how it relates to crime, but as the film progresses we slowly descend into an even darker film that almost completely discards this theme. The film cuts several times to a local police officer in Mexico. These cuts seem somewhat out of place. Instead of developing a new character, the director seems to be trying to remind us that there are victims in the war on drugs. Without these cuts or the character of Kate Macer, we would be left with a much darker films.
Overall, Sicario is an excellent thriller that explores the concept of darkness more than any other film in recent memory. The combination of a haunting soundtrack, excellent cinematography, and great performances leaves us with a film that captivates us and challenges us to understand how darkness guides our actions and thoughts.
Rating: See It
-Tyler