REVIEW #148 Sicario (2015)

Sicario is a crime thriller directed by Dennis Villeneuve and follows Kate Macer, an FBI agent who is recruited for a dangerous mission to stop a drug cartel operating between the US and Mexico. Her morals are put to the test as she soon realises some harsh realities with the war on drugs. 

CAST & THE ACTING 

Sicario has a brilliant cast with Emily Blunt leading as FBI agent Kate Macer and it’s fair to say that she delivered the stand out performance. She portrays the emotional rollercoaster Macer experiences really well, a person so determined to maintain her sense of morality whilst wanting to achieve real change with the war on drugs. The supporting cast includes Daniel Kaluuya as Reggie, Josh Brolin as Matt Graver, Benicio Del Toro as Alejandro and even John Berthnal makes a brief appearance too. They all performed pretty well but unfortunately there wasn’t enough time dedicated to their characters to be able to showcase their ability. The focus was very much on Emily Blunt. I would have loved to have seen more of her and Kaluuya together because they worked really well and from what we did see their chemistry created a great on screen friendship. 

THE STORYLINE 

I can’t help but feel slightly underwhelmed by the storyline, I heard such great things about the film but I think it really suffers from pacing issues. The first half is so slow and it had me losing interest, usually you can forgive that because the directors, more often than not, utilise that period to build up characters and give the audience an insight into their psyche. Unfortunately I don’t think that was the case. The one thing it did show was the friendship between Macer and Reggie which was definitely the best character relationship in the film but as I mentioned in the previous category I think I would have liked the pair to have got more screen time together. I appreciated the twist at the end. I knew that Alejandro seemed suspicious and perhaps something would centre around him but I didn’t expect it to play out how it did. You could actually imagine that happening in real life too, the American government trying to reinstate one central cartel, one they would have more control over. Overall the plot just felt generic, there was nothing that makes Sicario stand out amongst films of a similar nature. 

CINEMATOGRAPHY & SPECIAL EFFECTS 

With Roger Deakins at the helm you can be sure that you’ll have fantastic cinematography. The colour pallet was great, especially the deep blues he used during the dusk periods of the film, I have included some examples at the end of this post. It created really nice visuals! Sicario also had Jóhann Jóhannson as the musical composer and he done a brilliant job too. One scene that springs to mind is the moment where they are storming the cartels drug tunnels, the score really helped build the tension and certainly had my heart racing in anticipation. It also wouldn’t be a Roger Deakins project if the film didn’t include some beautiful silhouette shots, this worked very well with the deep blue tones that I mentioned above. So Sicario certainly impressed me when it came to the cinematography.  

OVERALL (7.5/10)

Certainly a respectable score but I was definitely underwhelmed as a whole. I expected such great things from Sicario and despite Emily Blunt performing excellently and Roger Deakins producing fantastic cinematography, I can’t help but feel let down by the storyline. For me it was poorly paced and I had to drag myself through the first act that seemed unbearably slow. Fortunately the film ends really strongly, the action picks up and the twist helps deliver the excitement that the film was desperate for. Would I rewatch it any time soon? I don’t think I would but I am glad I finally got around to watching it because it’s another Dennis Villeneuve film I can tick off of the list.

Thanks for reading.

 Callan