Sicario

The fight against drugs isn't only political, but it has become great fodder for meaty scripts for films. Whether the film is based on a true story or not, there is so much material in which to write a dynamite screenplay. We've seen many films in past and will continue to see in the future: "Traffic", "The Counselor", "Killing Me Softly", "The Drop", and others. So now we are given the much awaited, "Sicario".

In the lawless border area stretching between the U.S. and Mexico, an idealistic FBI agent, Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) is enlisted by an elite government task force official, Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) and his colleague, Dave Jennings (Victor Garber) to aid in the escalating war against drugs attempting to rid drug lord Fausto Alarcon (Julio Cedillo). Led by an enigmatic consultant with a questionable past, Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro), the team sets out on a clandestine journey forcing Kate to question everything that she believes in order to survive. Through the most unorthodox and basically illegal means to rid of this drug lord, can these guys trust Kate and FBI agent colleague, Reggie Wayne (Daniel Kaluuya) with them knowing that  some rules may have to be broken to make any headway in combatting these scum of the Earth? Only time will tell.

Others to round out the cast are Jon Bernthal as Ted, Jeffrey Donovan as Steve Forsing, Raoul Trujillo as Rafael, Hank Rogerson as Phil Coopers, Bernardo P. Saracino as Manuel Diaz, Maximiliano Hernandez as Silvio, Kevin Wiggins as Burnett, Edgar Arreola as Guillermo and Kim Larrichio as Silvio's wife.

This was directed with intense grit and volatility by Denis Villeneuve ("Maelstrom" 2000, "Polytechnique" '09, "Incendies" '10, "Prisoners" '13, "Enemy" '13). This filmmaker doesn't have a plethora of experience, but what he has to his credit is cutting edge and phenomenal in the intense and creepy way. He knows how to get his actors to emit almost a claustrophobic feeling in which to make their characters that much more troublesome. He has future work in the process which should be just as intense as his other projects, this included. It was written with expertise by newcomer Taylor Sheridan (upcoming- "Comancheria" filming right now). This guy is an actor who has slowly made the transition to writing and this is a natural move. Seasoned writers should take note of the quality of which Sheridan writes. Now, time and more work will be the test as far as if this was just a fluke or not. There was a small slow spot in the middle of this script, but I can't help but think that this was intentional, hence once the story got going again, it simply snow-balled and the story started falling into place as it was reaching the end. And what can I say about the cast, both Blunt and Brolin played their roles with the quality which we've come to expect. The one that actually shined here was Del Toro as Alejandro, Sicario--or in Mexico means hitman. He's a great actor, but he was certainly as talented in this as he was in "Traffic".

This is a film that is written, directed and acted well, but certainly isn't for everyone considering the graphic violence that is housed in this. But if one can wrap their head around the fact that because of the subject matter--being about a bunch a bad guys doing very bad things, that the craft of this film should more than compensate.

Out of 4 Stars: 4                                 Rated: R                                   121mins.