Sicario (2015)

 

“Nothing will make sense to your American ears, and you will doubt everything that we do, but in the end you will understand.”

 

            I am not really into movies that have to do with drug busting. Those are types of movies that really do not hold my interest. If you have heard anything about the plot of Sicario you may be asking yourself then why if I do not like movies that have to do with drug busting did I go see it. My answer to you is that I had no idea what Sicario was about when I went to see it and it was one of those movies I wound up really, really liking.

            The story begins with a drug raid on a house in Arizona. A tactical team is sent in to find supposed kidnap victims but no one but hired drug runners and thugs are in the house. The house is deemed clear. One of the hired thugs almost killed agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) but she managed to duck out of the way just in time. When Kate gets up she looks at the hole in the wall and sees something. The agents come to find that there are dozens of dead bodies hidden in the wall.

            Soon Kate is picked for a special assignment to bring in the drug lord who owned the house and hired the thugs. She is to work with a guy named Matt Garver (Josh Brolin) from the Department of Justice. Also working with Garver and Kate is a man named Alejandro (Benicio del Toro) to find the drug lord. They first take her across the border to Juarez, Mexico where they are to pick up a connection to the drug lord from a jail. On the bridge to the boarder the team is almost ambushed by cartel members looking to kill the prisoner before he can talk. Luckily the team bests the cartel members.

            With the information taken from the prisoner, Matt and Alejandro decide that they have to create chaos in order for the smaller drug lord to lead them to his boss the bigger drug lord.

            Kate gets wrapped up in a world she was not expecting. The two men use tactics to get information that she does approve of and her world becomes outrageously dangers in a short amount of time.

            The cast was beyond brilliant. None of the characters are likable and that is something I kind of like in movies if it can be done right. Emily Blunt’s character was a little annoying but I liked her. Blunt is actually the entire reason why I wanted to see the movie. I adore her as an actress. Josh Brolin was good his character was kind of  laid back like he had been through everything five million times before. Benicio del Toro was amazing. His character was scary as hell and awesome and amazing. I am hoping that he gets recognized around award season. I am not saying he should nominated or even win an Oscar but he should get like a Golden Globe or something. He was incredible.

            The direction by Denis Villeneuve was unbelievably fantastic. There were so many certain little aspects of scenes that he focused on that other directors might not have. I am a little obsessed with this one scene and the way it was filmed. When the American envoy is driving through Juarez attended by the Mexican police troopers they drive by a park. Villeneuve shows the cars and vans and motorcycles in the distance while he has the people playing in the park in the foreground. We see these people playing games to sitting around talking to each other and they do not even really pay attention to it. Their curiosity makes them look for a second but they are not bothered by it all because police cars and violence are such a daily occurrence to them. That was so sad to see. Another scene that I was thought was brilliant when the team goes to raid a tunnel the drug lords use to smuggle drugs to America. The scene takes place at night so the camera is in night vision mode. There is no dialogue and very little, if any, music. There is so much tension in the camera as well as the characters in this scene. This was when I said to myself, when does this come out on Blu Ray. I would really like to see Villeneuve nominated for an Oscar for his direction he was incredible.

            Sicario is one of the best movies I have seen in a while. The story was great, the direction was awe inspiring, and the acting was top notch. Sicario is a movie I highly recommend seeing as soon as you can.