Movie Review: Sicario

     



      Benicio del Toro is a bad motherfucker. That was the one thing that constantly kept popping into my head while watching Sicario (2015) which was directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Taylor Sheridan. Sicario follows young F.B.I. agent Kate Mercer (Emily Blunt) as she finds herself being recruited by a secret government task force that is charged with finding the leader of a violent Mexican drug cartel. However, Kate Mercer's principles causes her to clash with the unethical methods of her superiors Matt Garver (Josh Brolin) and the mysterious Alejandro Gillick (Benicio del Toro).
     Sicario is a phenomenal modern day western. This was the first script that Taylor Sheridan ever wrote and the crazy thing is that he continues to get even better. Clint Eastwood put the old western film genre to rest with Unforgiven (1992), but Sheridan has created a new modern day western of sorts with his excellent writing and directing skills. Sheridan understands that the Wild West still exists. It exists on Indian Reservations as seen in his directorial debut Wind River (2017), in rundown rural American towns as seen in Hell or High Water (2016), and the U.S.-Mexican border as seen in Sicario and its upcoming sequel. In Sheridan's westerns, horses are replaced by cars and revolvers are replaced with machine guns. The spirit of cowboys and outlaws still remains. The clothes they wear are different, but the line between law enforcement and the criminals they are supposed to be catching is as murky as ever in a movie like Sicario. Sheridan will win an Oscar in the next couple of years if he keeps up this kind of output.
     The late composer Johann Johannsson delivers a creepy and suspenseful score for this film. The shootouts in this movie and the moments that lead up to them wouldn't be nearly as good without his score. Johannsson's death is a huge loss for him and his talents will be sorely missed. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score and he should've won it.
     Cinematographer Roger Deakins and director Denis Villeneuve deliver a visually stunning film with Sicario. The film's violence is punctuated with beautiful images of the dessert which is a character in itself. Deakins and Villeneuve use violence in Sicario strategically. There are moments in this film that are absolutely brutal to watch, but the most violent and disturbing moments are the ones that take place just out of the camera's view, leaving the audience to imagine what kind of horror is happening out of the camera's frame.  
     The three stars of Sicario are tremendous and give some of the best performances of their careers. Emily Blunt gives a great performance as Kate Mercer. Blunt is able to portray the character as competent yet hopelessly in over her head as she gets further and further into a situation she doesn't fully understand. The character is a little too morally pure, but I suppose that was the purpose of this character in the film. Josh Brolin is great as the manipulative Matt Garver and this movie along with Avengers: Infinity War (2018) has made me a huge Josh Brolin fan.

Benicio del Toro gives the best performance of his career as the deadly Alejandro Gillick

     The MVP of this movie is Benicio del Toro. He should've won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Alejandro Gillick. Gillick is one of the greatest movie characters from this decade. del Toro was born to play this role. He rarely speaks, but del Toro steals every scene he's in with just a few lines of dialogue and his mere presence. There are very few actors that radiate charisma without speaking a word and del Toro is one of them. Even when Alejandro Gillick is off-screen, the viewer is left wondering when he'll come out of nowhere and unleash a barrage of carnage. If the sequel to Sicario is just as good as the original, then Alejandro Gilick could become The Man with No Name for this generation.
     Sicario is the kind film that punches you in the gut and leaves you in a weird state for the next couple of days. The protagonists in this film aren't the heroes and one can easily argue that they are the villains. Sicario demonstrates that America's War on Drugs has failed and has turned the U.S.-Mexican border into a war zone where innocent people are routinely slaughtered and turns Mexico's poorest citizens into foot soldiers for drug cartels. Meanwhile, America's law enforcement institutions have been more and more militarized which causes even more violence. There are moments in Sicario where I realized our government was engaging in the same type of tactics that the Mexican drug cartels engage in.
     Sicario was one of the best films of 2015 and should've received more award recognition. With the sequel's release happening soon, one can only hope that more people will revisit this film and appreciate its genius.

Rating:*****

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