Sicario

Sicario

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I saw Sicario in theatres and for a second time at home on Blu-ray, both times really getting into the tension the film created. Less so at home with the humming of my disc player getting so hot, almost making me consider an 81 minute feature like Ice Age instead. In theatres, the moments in the film with no music really got me excited to see how the scenes would play out as things seemed calm, you could hear a pin drop (who keeps dropping those?) and you know things could go south in a hurry (not a border crossing joke but it could’ve been). When the film ended, my wife said, “That’s it?” as in, wanting more of these great actors showing us what happens next but my disc player got too warm, huffed and puffed, and we fried a couple eggs on it. We may also be in luck for a sequel as a film called Soldado is sounding like a followup feature to Sicario and is coming soon (I can taste the omelette already). With filming of this moving picture in Texas, New Mexico, and (old?) Mexico, I hear my Blu-ray player huffing already heading back to continue exploring the war on drugs at the border. Better hurry up before that wall gets built, which might take longer than an actual ice age.

I really enjoyed director Denis Villeneuve’s film Prisoners and films with similar content such as Traffic (2000 also with Benicio Del Toro who won an Academy Award for his role), which lead me to this film. Denis has a style of lining up a wide shot and letting the actors move around in it, and can pan slowly to help steer our focus. Emily Blunt’s character looks like she is having one really bad, long day, and made me feel bad for watching her go through it. Great to see her mix it up with Josh Brolin and Benicio, who both look worn out by years of cooking in the sun fighting the drug trade, although Josh appears to be having fun. I was not always sure if his character was supposed to be that chipper, but it helped separate the two apart. The film score, when used, seemed to ramp up the suspense, action, and then was quickly silenced after the scene changed. Writer Taylor Sheridan created an interesting look at the war on the drug trade, made characters that I wanted to see take on more missions, and had a hit the following year writing another crime thriller, Hell or High Water starring Jeff Bridges.

2015, 14A, 2h 1m
Distributor – Lionsgate
Budget – $30 million


Cast & Crew


Sicario was nominated for 3 Academy Awards, Cinematography (Roger Deakins, his 13th since The Shawshank Redemption in 1994), Music (Jóhann Jóhannsson, his 2nd including The Theory of Everything in 2014), and Sound Editing (Alan Robert Murray, who has won 2 of 9 for Letters from Iwo Jima in 2006 and American Sniper in 2014). Director Denis Villeneuve knows how to put a winning crew together behind and in front of the camera, receiving his first directing Academy Award nomination for Arrival (2016 starring Amy Adams). Denis got noticed for Incendies (2010), made 2 with Jake Gyllenhaal (Prisoners and Enemy, both in 2013) and whose next film is Blade Runner 2049 (starring Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling). Emily Blunt was in Edge of Tomorrow (with Tom Cruise) and Into the Woods (with Meryl Streep) both in 2014, then followed Sicario with The Huntsman: Winter’s War (with Chris Hemsworth) and The Girl on the Train (based on the novel written by Paula Hawkins), both in 2016. Josh Brolin likes to pick his directors, as he was in Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (the second part, again by Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller), and Inherent Vice (directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and starring Benicio Del Toro) both in 2014, and followed up this film with Everest (with Baltasar Kormákur, also in 2015) and Hail, Caesar! (by the Coen brothers). Benicio Del Toro played a well known drug dealer in Escobar: Paradise Lost the year before and will soon be seen in Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Avengers: Infinity War.

Links

IMDB – 7.6
Box Office Mojo
Wikipedia


Spoilers

(please do not continue reading if you have not seen the movie and do not want to read a spoiler)

The film opening with the S.W.A.T. raid on the house and finding the dead bodies set the tone for the movie, and I wish there was another scene of them working together, but also glad there was not for pacing sake. Seeing the bullet hole in the wall behind Emily was powerful (she could’ve died, a quick movie) and also served the plot. I have not always been a fan of a major character being quite silent in a film but Benicio made it work wonderfully, apparently cutting a huge portion of his character’s lines with the support of the director. It was fun to hear Benicio tell Emily to move to a new town as this one is now a land of wolves because they were both in The Wolfman (2010). The establishing shots were always interesting to look at, such as the helicopters, the highways in and out of Mexico, and the Juárez skyline at night. The brief moments of brevity, like the briefing scene before the transport mission, really demonstrated the attitude of each of the characters, including the host, the Texans, Delta company, and all 3 leads. Also really impactful, earning the praise the film got, was the shootout scene near the border crossing, it felt frightening as it seemed like this is exactly how moments like these would go. I got really excited for Benicio when he was wearing the thermal cameras and going underground, hope they can have him in the sequel and get put to good use. It just takes getting a talented team together and you can make an attention grabbing film.

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