Review of Sicario (2015) by Filmphonic — 04 Oct 2015

Director Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners) teams up with cinematographer extraordinaire Roger Deakins (The Shawshank Redemption, Fargo) in an ultra-realist tense and bleak crime thriller, set in the backdrop of the current version of the USA’s so-called “war on drugs” centered around Mexico, and within the wider context of an evolving decades-old crisis.

‘Sicario’ is a striking and well-crafted tense action thriller with an ominous feel throughout in keeping with Villeneuve’s recent work. There’s also a clear tactical-militaristic style that’s reminiscent of Kathryn Bigelow’s work in ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ and ‘The Hurt Locker’ , which itself should be an eye-opener as it’s depicting what happens on a regular basis just south of the most powerful and advanced nation on earth, seemingly uncontrollably, often bleeding across the border.

Emily Blunt delivers a strong central performance, through which the audience discovers this insane world, as a female FBI agent in a distinctly male environment but ‘Sicario’ doesn’t dwell on it or get sucked into sexual politics. Josh Brolin is also solid while Benicio Del Toro steals the show with his second superb performance in a drug-war drama. Which incidentally reminds us that given the escalation in drug-cartel activities over the last 15 years, perhaps it’s time for a sequel to Steven Soderbergh’s ‘Traffic’ which would greatly expand on what we see in ‘Sicario’.

And that’s perhaps the only major negative aspect of this film, Villeneuve’s decision to make the narrative an uncompromising mission-like thriller means it only skims the surface of the current drug-war, leaving us tantalized but unsatisfied by what might have been. The result is certainly compelling, but we would have liked to see an expansion of the context which has seen American authorities, namely the CIA, simultaneously fight against and benefit from drug trafficking while losing control of a crisis in the Americas that has existed for decades, but which is rapidly evolving into something increasingly ominous.

The Bottom Line..

A stark and meticulously crafted crime thriller, ‘Sicario’ does a cursory job illuminating the current state of the US “war on drugs”, but will keep you engaged and on the edge of your seat throughout, makes us more excited to see how Denis Villeneuve and Roger Deakins tackle the upcoming ‘Blade Runner’ sequel.