Denis Villeneuve is the real McCoy, and he's not afraid of the dark. With awards season exploding all around us, it seems there are always a couple of really top notch movies that somehow get lost. Sicario didn't score a single nomination at last night's Golden Globes, yet it's a spectacular film on every level.
Villeneuve directed the staggeringly good Prisoners and now he's turned his attention to the violent border zone of the drug war along the Mexican border. Emily Blunt is a dedicated FBI agent with a track record of getting things done. A good movie should capture your attention immediately, and the raid Blunt leads at the start of Sicario does that in spades. Her superiors offer up the opportunity of being assigned to an inter-agency task force, led by Josh Brolin. It's a hard core assignment with plenty of gray area, but it gives Blunt a chance to do some damage further up the food chain, getting a crack at those responsible for the carnage she's been barely chipping away at.
Brolin's a relaxed predator who has broad authority and thinks nothing of leading a team across the border into Mexico. Benicio Del Toro acts as Brolin's liaison, someone who knows the terrain of the drug cartels intimately well. He's a mystery, and it isn't long before Blunt's loaner agent finds herself unsure of who to trust, while depending on her new comrades for her very life. Blunt does a remarkable here, showing even more of the ferocity and guarded vulnerability so deftly on view in Edge of Tomorrow. Del Toro does some of his very best work here, playing a complicated character who's had to live with a legacy of blood, and been irrevocably changed. He's really fantastic.
Villeneuve has once again partnered with his Prisoners cinematographer, Roger Deakins, and these two work together unbelievably well. Deakins camera prowls through the bleak rural and urban environments glimpsing dread and menace at every turn, finding moments of surreal beauty and quiet between the sudden eruptions of violence. Incredibly, I'm even more giddy with excitement at the prospect of these two collaborating on the new Blade Runner movie.
Sicario is a strong cup of coffee, but vivid and arresting as hell. As Blunt navigates the moral purgatory of a situation that's been escalating and imploding for so long, you can't help but wonder if anyone can ever make a difference. Sicario is the best film I've seen about one of the most violent situations on Earth, and Villeneuve cements his position as one of the best directors working. Like Nightcrawler, you might feel like you need a good shower afterwards, but you'll find it impossible to look away.
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