“Sicario” opens with two indicators of a violent world, one a discovery and one an explosion, both setting the stage for the satisfying thriller that follows. This is a universe in which evidence of evil exists in plain sight,
hiding in the walls of a house in suburban America. And it is a world in which
violence can erupt in the blink of an eye, taking lives and shattering others.
At times, “Sicario” is a deeply satisfying, intense examination of a war with
no rules of engagement, driven by a spectacular performance by Benicio Del Toro
and typically mesmerizing cinematography from Roger Deakins. At other times, especially
in its middle act, “Sicario” can be frustratingly self-indulgent, filled with
overhead helicopter shots of the Mexican border and a thumping, pretentious
score. It’s a film that lacks the urgency of the really great thrillers, but
exists in that rarefied air of refined production values on every level and a
flawless ensemble. That it falls short of greatness could be considered a
disappointment, but there’s still much to like here.
That opening scene features FBI Agent Kate Macy (Emily
Blunt) trying to find a kidnap victim in an Arizona home. She literally barrels
through the wall in her truck, and just takes down a target as he unloads a
shotgun in her direction. The shotgun blasts a hole in the wall, revealing a
dead body, wrapped in plastic. And this cadaver is not alone. Soon, they
discover the home is filled with corpses, and their investigation leads to an
explosion. What is going on? What horror has crossed the border from the
notoriously lawless town of Juarez to Arizona?
Macy’s fearlessness and quick wit draws the attention of her
superiors, and she’s brought in on a meeting for an inter-agency task force.
Led by a mysterious, professionally undefined (he could be CIA) man named Matt
(Josh Brolin), the people behind this task force like what they hear from Kate.
They bring her aboard, and Matt, Kate and the mysterious Alejandro (Benicio Del
Toro) head South to capture a drug trafficker and bring back to the States for
questioning. This sequence alone justifies a look at “Sicario.” Venturing into
a part of the continent in which drug lords have become so prominent that dead
bodies hang in public places as messages, the team has to act quickly. On the
way back from Mexico, they get stuck in traffic at the border. Cars around them
could contain the drug trafficker’s cronies, waiting to strike. These scene is
a master class in the production of tension. Deakins uses car windows
beautifully and editor Joe Walker seamlessly cuts the action together. That the
movie never tops this sequence again is where the problems arguably start. We
open with such intensity that the lack of sizzle in the second act starts to
take a toll.
Part of the problem is that Taylor Sheridan’s script doesn’t
really develop a protagonist. Kate is too often an observer, an unwilling and
uninformed traveler on this journey. Brolin’s Matt and Del Toro’s Alejandro are
so clearly in charge of what’s happening that they’re thinking of moves several
machinations away while Kate is unclear of not only what role she’s supposed to
play but what roles everyone has as well. I get that this sense of confusion is
part of the point. “Sicario,” at its core, is about a world in which the lack
of leadership on either side of the drug war has created complete chaos. And so
it makes sense that it would feature a protagonist equally confused by the lack
of ground rules. However, this makes for a film that doesn’t have the emotional
punch of the best thrillers, at least not until the final act when the tables
are turned, and we realize that we may have been focusing on the wrong story all
along.
Despite the issues I have with the narrative of “Sicario,”
it’s impossible to deny the technical elements that are so far above average,
and Denis Villeneuve’s skill with directing actors. He draws a great performance
from Brolin as the kind of guy who enjoys keeping those around him uninformed.
He considers intelligence as a tool to an upper hand. Del Toro has a very
different purpose, one that’s slowly revealed, and he’s simply magnetic here.
He steals every scene he’s in. Blunt is typically excellent as well, even if it
feels like the underdrawn nature of her character is the film’s biggest flaw.
By the time “Sicario” gets to its final act, and Villeneuve
and Deakins approach “Zero Dark Thirty” territory through strikes under the cover of darkness with night vision goggles,
it’s impossible to nitpick the screenplay. When life and death are in play,
such as in that scene on the freeway, and really the entire final act, “Sicario”
rises to the level I hoped it would maintain the entire time. It becomes an
entire film of that opening scene—a movie of secrets and the threat of constant
violence. It’s about a world that we can’t really even comprehend
when it comes to its lack of order and degree of atrocities. And it’s in our
backyard.
Source:: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/sicario-2015
