Warning! Contains
spoilers!
How can I turn down
another trip to the US drug war? While overwhelmingly depressing in
real life, it does provide great fodder for thrilling fiction. The
trailer for “Sicario” looked slick. But all was not well. A
'serious' film calls for serious snacks – I went with Galaxy
Minstrels. Somehow between purchasing my ticket and taking my seat,
this bag of chocolate joy disappeared into thin air. Frantic
searching and retracing my steps turned up squat. Bugger buying
another bag of the expensive blighter's. My mood during the opening
credits is usually optimistic. Not this time. Good luck, “Sicario”.
I'm fucking livid.
Agent Macer (Emily
Blunt) is the leader of an elite FBI hostage rescue team. While on an
operation in Arizona her paramilitary unit discover dozens of bodies
hidden in an innocuous house. The situation worsens when further
searching activates a booby trap, killing two local police officers.
Despite expert training and millions of dollars of equipment, Macer
rails against her organisations inability to curb the growing cartel
crime activity in the Southern United States. Matt Graver (Josh
Brolin) offers her a golden chance to make a difference. Volunteer to
join his inter-agency task force and she will strike a decisive blow
in the fight against organised crime. But what is the plan? How will
they strike back? What makes her so perfect for this role? Who is
Gravers ominous Columbian companion? The idealistic agent is about to
go on a journey that will challenge her FBI training and moral code
to breaking point.
It would be too easy to
say that the acting in “Sicario” was excellent. Rather, it was
delicious. The combination of a prime script and artful direction has
resulted in a gorgeous coco treat with a hard crispy exterior of
grit. We witnessed the action star potential from Blunt in “Edge of
Tomorrow” and now that feather in her cap is confirmed with this
performance. Brolin is the charismatic planner who's cheerful
demeanour hides brutal determination to see the job done and a
clinical coldness towards the taking of human life. Benicio Del Toro
plays the mysterious Columbian. He says little for most of the film
but when he does it is almost unanimously quotable. And the awkward
suspense! He exudes an energy of suppressed violence; murderous
potential just waiting to snap forward. When he does its so
disturbingly proficient that we enjoy it the same way one enjoys
stolen chocolate.
The director manages to
maintain a mood of constant tension throughout the flick. Our
disquiet is mirrored in Blunt as she delves into the world of the
cartels. “Your American eyes will not understand” warns Del Toro
as they cross the Mexican boarder to collect a prisoner. Macer has
left the world of clear boundaries and jurisdictions. Decapitated
bodies hang by wire just five minutes drive from the United States.
Police travel in convoys, cover their faces and carry heavy
machine-guns for protection. Its a world turned upside down. You will
be forced to drink it in. The camera lingers in many scenes at a wide
angle, forcing the eyes to take in everything but wait for the drama
to burst. Everyday settings like a traffic jam or a family meal
become almost uncomfortable as our minds create a thinning fuse. I
cant stress enough how griping this was to be involved in! Thanks to
Blunt, you will be involved.
“Sicario” could
have dropped out a cliché any time it wanted. There was no boy meets
girl (well there is but he tries to strangle her like some kind of
dirty Minstrel thief), no heroic fight against evil. Its all rather
pedestrian when compared to something like a Tom Clancy novel. Why
are we here? Because the CIA want to draw out a cartel leader in
Mexico so they can kill him with a private hitman (Del Toro). To work
both sides of the border they need a federal agency to approve their
activity. Macer is there to sign a form. That's all. America has
spent over a decade perfecting counter insurgency in Asia. This film
asks frankly what happens when those skill sets come home. Its an
escalation without trying to solve the problem. By the end of the
movie, Macer has transformed from confident crime fighter into a
quivering wreck unable and unfit to take part in the coming war on
Americas southern boarder. We feel her fear and frustration.
I'm still thinking
about “Sicario.” It nails itself five Brian faces out of five.
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