Cast: Super solid collection of actors. Emily Blunt is the understated lead. Josh Brolin and Benicio del Toro get some flashy supporting roles. Victor Garber, Jon Bernthal, Daniel Kaluuya, Maximilliano Hernandez, and others show up too.
Plot: Kate Macer (Blunt) is an FBI agent brought onto a joint task force with [she assumes] the CIA where she meets Matt Graver (Brolin) and the mysterious Alejandro (del Toro). They are trying to make a “big splash” with the Mexican drug cartels by going after some of the top figures. The movie follows Kate as she tries to understand what Matt and Alejandro are up to.
Thoughts:
I notice that most of the comparisons made to this movie are Traffic. I don't agree with that. Given the El Paso/Juarez setting, the TV show The Bridge might be better. The plot plays out most similarly to Zero Dark Thirty though. Sicario is a slow burn movie. The audience spends most of the movie in the dark. The momentum is kept up more through feelings of unease than anything big that happens. That works really well most of the time, but I left the movie disappointed that more didn't happen. This is a single chapter in a much larger story. It is a very well told chapter though. Denis Villenueve impressed me a lot with Prisoners a couple years ago, and Sicario lingers with me in the same way.
The whole movie was very familiar. As one of the 47 people who watch FX's The Bridge among other similar things, there was very little this movie covered that I hadn't seen before. I imagine for everyone else though, the setting will be less familiar and thus enough to sustain the whole film.
Regardless, the performances are top notch. Emily Blunt is deserving of all the praise I can give her for this. It's not a flashy performance at all and it's something I hadn't seen from her before. Both del Toro and Brolin struck me with their ease. They give very lived-in performances that make it clear that nothing about this movie is special, which ties back into my “chapter in a larger stroy” comment.
Elephant in the Room: Ok, but I still don't really know what it's about? I'm sorry. It's not a great movie for selling you on a pitch. It's about the U.S.'s role in stopping the worldwide drug trade. The intrigue of the movie is that while you're watching it, you're a little confused by it. There's nothing to spoil in this. It's a small story in a much larger world.
To Sum Things Up:
Some movies are defined by their uniqueness. Others by how they take a lot of familiar elements and effectively mix them together. Sicario is in the latter category. All I can say is that if it looks at all interesting to you, you'll probably enjoy it, because it's a good version of that type of movie.
Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend
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