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| Courtesy of Lionsgate |
I
was a big fan of Prisoners, Denis Villeneuve’s U.S. debut, until its
anticlimactic reveal. That’s when the movie ignored the grim, realistic tension
it had been consistently building in favor of an exposition-spewing villain and
a cop-out ending. Still, it was easy to see the filmmaker had plenty of talent
and a strong vision for how he wanted to tell a story.
Sicario feels like a much better match for that talent. Villenueve is working with
another gripping screenplay (courtesy of Sons of Anarchy actor Taylor
Sheridan), but this one actually sticks the landing, following its narrative to
a logical, inevitable conclusion. The characters are realistic, and none of
them make ridiculous decisions that betray how they’re depicted just to further
the plot.
Emily
Blunt (in yet another astounding performance) plays Kate Macer, an upstart FBI
agent working on the U.S.-Mexico border in the escalating war on drugs. After
participating in a horrific raid, she gets the attention of high-level
government officials interested in recruiting her for an elite task force. She
quickly volunteers, but learns the group is so secretive that they won’t reveal
their plans, strategies or goals.
The
weirdly easygoing agent-in-charge (Josh Brolin, terrific as usual) just tells
Macer to tag along and pay attention. He doesn’t even introduce her to the
team’s enigmatic consultant (Benicio Del Toro, doing his best work in years),
an expert on the drug trade who seems to be pursing his own agenda. Ultimately,
she discovers the drug war is even more complex and seemingly futile than she
initially believed.
Thanks
to Sheridan’s compelling story and Villeneuve’s ability to construct tense,
chilling sequences, Sicario is an unrelenting thriller in the vein of Traffic or The Hurt Locker. There’s always the possibility of sudden
violence, and the director constantly cuts to different perspectives to covey
that it can come from anywhere.
The
absence of a score (aside from occasional intense drumbeats) contributes to
that constant anxiety and realistic tone, as does Roger Deakins’ masterful
cinematography. A covert raid that takes place in an underground tunnel, shot
with night vision cameras, is easily one of the year’s best sequences.
I do
have one big gripe; namely that the film’s focus shifts in the final act,
causing a role of prominence to suddenly become unimportant. Honestly, someone
else becomes the new main character. That makes sense when you step back and
assess the narrative as a whole, but it’s still disappointing considering the
character who’s being replaced is so compelling.
That
shift doesn’t take away from the overall power of Sicario – in fact, it might
be the most fascinating section of the film. I just hate that it’s at the
expense of an equally interesting character.
Sicario is rated R for strong violence, grisly images and language.
Grade:
B+
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