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Review:

Sicario (2015)

Score: 7/10

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Stars: Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro, Daniel Kaluuya, Victor Garber.

Synopsis: An idealistic FBI agent volunteers to join a task force that will aid in escalating the war against drugs at the border between the U.S. and Mexico.

Review: A FBI agent named Kate Macer (Emily Blunt ) is given the opportunity by her boss Dave Jennings ( Victor Garber ) to join a task force headed by a intelligence agent named Matt Graver (Josh Brolin ). The goal is to draw out a very dangerous drug lord, follow the drug lord to the cartel leader, and eliminate the drug lord and the cartel leader all at once. While on this mission, Kate is questioning the legality and morality of the action of her team.

Emily Blunt plays her character very well. I prefer characters that are very realistic like hers to over powered plot armored action characters. Here her character tries to stick to her strengths. She can fight but she is not stronger than her attackers so she relies on her gun and the team work of her allies. She always needs to make a decision that is in line with the bounds of the law. She is always stopped by legality issues and the criminals understanding of red tape. This offers an incredible sense of realism that pulls you into the story.

Josh Brolin seems to love to play characters that are constantly giving speeches as he kills people. From Thanos with Avengers: Infinity War (2018) to this film, he always has a lot to say. Interestingly enough Cable from Deadpool 2 (2018) is rather quiet. I love how complex this character is in the film. Every move he makes is well thought out and meticulous. He thinks in the ambiguous “grey” area of society and the law, which keeps him from being predicable.

Benicio Del Toro plays yet another mysterious character that the audience doesn’t know the allegiance of just like his character in the film Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017). In both he says one thing to set you up all the while doing something to capitalize off of you. He has a very calm and reassuring “poker” face and eyes that say that he is sincere about what he is saying. I like this kind of role for him to play sense his characters always has some realistic philosophy that they operating on. They see the world from a different point of view that is not entirely wrong. The movie The Hunted (2003) with him and Tommy Lee Jones was a decent movie but did not have the same impact. In that film he plays a Rambo like character that starts killing people because his PTSD went haywire and sought help from all the wrong people. He has become legendary from this film Sicario (2015) and I can see why.

There is another film that is extremely similar to this film Training Day (2001) with Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke. In both of these films we see a relatively new officer that doesn’t understand the world they are living in. In this movie we get a female protagonist and in Training Day (2001) we get a male protagonist. In this way we get to see two sides of very similar characters. Both main characters have a leader that lies to them, has a secret agenda, shows the “rookie” the ropes, and teaches them about real society with charismatic speeches.

The main protagonist develops by learning what the real world is like. This is consistent with the ideas of happiness within stoic philosophy. There is the idea that we believe that we “are” happy and what we think “will” make us happy. That being when we get the things we want, we tend to want more. At the beginning of the film our main protagonist has an idea of what the world will be like when she accomplishes her goal of ridding the world of drugs and bringing justice to society. Being an FBI agent on an anti-drug task force, is her thinking that she” is” happy and volunteering to join another more effective task force, is her thinking she “will” be even more happy. This concept is very similar to Diana from the movie Wonder Woman (2017) who believed that if she killed Aries, humans will stop killing each other and be good. Our main protagonist finally develops by making a critical change. She learns that the” ideas” about the world in their heads are just that,” ideas” and nothing more. In general her point of view is selfish but not in a malicious way. She focuses on what “she” wants from the world and not what “people” want from the world. This is the lesson that she learns from Josh Brolin’s character.

The cinematography is perfect for this kind of film. The scenes are shocking and reveal a very real side of the world most of us don’t want to see. The lighting, wardrobe, set dressing, backgrounds, and color are perfect for the message of this film. The movie seems slow but the pace starts to speed up the more you watch the film. There is a dangerous vibe about this movie, the more you get into it. Much like the film Triple 9 (2016) with Gal Gadot, you tend to feel like anything can happen to anyone. Characters that you like can die. Even if you know that the main character is going to survive obviously, the cinematography is done in such a way that you get caught up in the moment. This is one of the better action films since the movie focuses on realism rather than the audience watching some live action video game on god mode with unrealistic physics, I’m looking at The Fate of the Furious (2017). For a much more meaningful film about society give this movie a watch. Keep in mind that this movie has a lot of violence so it’s not everyone cup of tea. This film is above average for an action movie.

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