Sicario is a 2015 action film about an idealistic FBI agent who is enlisted by a government task force to aid in the escalating war against drugs at the border area between the U.S. and Mexico. Directed by Denis Villeneuve, whose most recent film Blade Runner 2049 topped our Best Movies of 2017, the film is a stylized yet gritty and realistic take on an ongoing ‘war’, giving it a deeply personal look from someone on the front lines. Performing well at the box office, it received high critical praise (including from us) for it authenticity and actors, but also for its music and stunning cinematography from legendary Roger Deakins. Seriously. This movie looks good.
It stars Emily Blunt (who we think should be the next Bond) as FBI Agent Kate Macer, part of an elite team of highly-trained responders who assault a drug house, only to find horrors inside and a bomb that kills two of their own. Following the nasty incident, she gets picked to join a special joint task force of the Justice Department to help take down a notorious cartel boss named Manuel Díaz (Bernardo Saracino). She partners with grizzled Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) and soon meets a mysterious Colombian named Alejandro Gillick (Benicio del Toro – above) who has a unique method for getting information. Hint: torture. However, it’s not long before Kate suspects things are not so much what they seem. She’s down the rabbit hole.
What really sells Sicario is its rich atmosphere, something Villeneuve has become very well known for. Have you seen Arrival? Geesh, that’s all atmosphere. His storytelling is highly visual and deeply compelling, his long lingering imagery often so immersive it feels otherworldly. With Sicario, he journeys us to Ciudad Juarez and paints a pretty bleak picture (so much so the film drew strong criticism from Mexico), the story heavily centered on the far seeder nature of the city. Kate witnesses terrific horrors (there’s some gruesome death and aftermath here) as she descends further into the maddening spiral of violence and malice, soon to learn that her life … well … is in greater danger than even she thought.
Not to spoil some important twists in the film, we learn that Díaz has a long reach, and becoming as powerful as he has means he’s got fingers all up and in the law. Corruption runs rampant and staying ahead of it ain’t so easy. At one point, Kate and her team raid a bank used for money laundering Díaz’s cash, and disobeying some good advice from Matt, she goes in herself, getting recognized by those working for the cartel crime lord, though she doesn’t know it yet. However, she soon will.
Later, at a bar, as the team relaxes, Kate meets Ted (Jon Bernthal – above), a friend of the team and a local police officer. There are sparks right away, the two hitting it off pretty quickly. Kate is also a little vulnerable, needing intimacy to perhaps re-establish her faith in kindness. They dance and draw closer, where she soon invites him to her apartment, their attraction now leading them to the sofa where it’s clear she is ready to let herself go. However, just as he positions himself on top of her, she notices something on his keyring, identifying him as a confidant of Díaz. Not good.
Things go to hell fast. She leaps from under him and a confrontation erupts with him initially trying to calm her down and rejoin him, though she is feircely defensive and as they tussle, reaches for her pistol, which goes off, firing into the next room. This is a bad date. Ted continues to try and suppress her and eventually gets her on the floor, overpowering her and wrapping his hands around her throat. As he begins to crush her windpipe, he admonishes her, blaming her for her own coming death. She looks up to the fading light on the ceiling and things begin to blur.
I won’t reveal what happens next, however Kate obviously survives and in the process learns of a betrayal of sorts that she realizes is as much her doing as theirs. The remarkable thing about this moment is how it shifts so quickly, drawing us into the very trap Kate has set for herself. Villeneuve creates these ‘safe’ zones in the film where we believe there is a clear separation between the terrors of the drug war and the comfort of life on the other side of the border. By putting Ted in that safety zone and having him so embedded among Kate’s close friends, extends that zone and leaves us entirely vulnerable. When it all turns, it’s doubly shocking.
The entire sequence is more than it seems though, the brief setup, confrontation and outcome a kind of microcosm of Kate’s place in all of it, symbolic of the short cycle of the game all are playing. She literally dances with danger and by putting her guard down for only an instant, becomes marked for death. However, she is as much to blame for nearly getting killed, taking risks that both almost end her but also, ironically, propel her case forward. That is the endless march both sides take to, and Villeneuve compresses that massive war into a battle of only two.
Sicario is a smart, very well-made film, easily one of the best of that year. It’s tough and hard-hitting but also an accomplished character study with Blunt at her career best. It’s an action film that defies the conventions of the genre, hugely entertaining while even more challenging. It’s a must watch. A sequel, Sicario 2: Soldado is releasing this year, though focuses on the Matt and Alejandro characters. Neither Blunt or Villeneuve are involved.