Review of Sicario (2015) by Samuel K — 22 Jan 2016

Something about this one bugged me enough to write a review. Maybe because it is overrated on this site and a couple others. It is not a masterpiece, it is a 3.5 star at best. It had a solid premise, twist, intense scenes, score, and decent into darkness.

It also has a powerful message to send about escalation and drug enforcement policy. What went wrong? I think the film relied too heavily on shock and drama to obscure from its shortcomings. The plot moved at a snail's pace for 3/4 of the film where little was explained or happened.

Besides that it has one major problem. The lead character was insufferable. She was annoying, clueless, afraid, and amateur, despite this being her profession. Her treatment was also abysmal. She was used, mislead, and bullied by her teammates; threatened into submission.

There are deliberate undertones of misogyny, and promotion of violence. Expected considering the subject matter and audience, though are no less disturbing to experience. As for it's realism. Something funny to know is that the CIA, Mexican Government, and town of Juárez all called bullshit and denounced the film, even getting it ban in several places, since violent and cartel related crime statistics have been steadily dropping for years thanks to successful DEA, FBI, CIA, Mexican Army and police efforts to quell the cartels.

In many respects what is portrayed in the film is still very "Hollywood".