Film Review - Sicario (2015)

Sicario is directed by Denis Villenuve and stars Emily Blunt as Kate, an FBI agent who volunteers for a mysterious mission in Mexico led by Josh Brolin and his equally mysterious Mexican aide (Benicio Del Toro) but missions kept under darkness are never easy ones to solve.

Of all the films I saw in the cinema last year, this was the one I desperately wished I got to see in the cinema itself but unfortunately its late September release date saw it go face to face against the Martian as well as the School Holiday films like Oddball, Pan and Pixels and in a cinematic war there are always casualties and this sadly was one of them.

But the time came where at long last I got to see this movie after threading every inch of the preview for the last 4 months, could it possibly deliver the goods or just be a huge disappointment.

Fortunately this is a case of the former as this film is very good, very good indeed despite some slight misteps:

- First of all the visual look here created by veteran cinematographer Roger Deakins is great with those stark sun scorched Mexican streets and mountains to the dark tunnels underneath the surface to the strong blues of US Offices and Mexican night skies, this is a great film just to look at and you never feel bored while doing so.

- Secondly the music score by Johann Johannsen also adds a lot of mood and tension to the proceedings and there are times where you do feel your heart skip a beat as the film heads towards one of its many action setpieces, again great work here.

- And lastly is the direction and performances on display here, Villenuve's use of wide angles and long cuts works a real treat here as it allows you to take in what you are seeing more as opposed to the more traditional way (well it's a modern tradition) of having a lot of quick cuts that just want to move you along to the next scene or setpiece (the new Star Wars is a little guilty of this.)

And the 3 central performances are all very good, Brolin continues to show his fine form as the shady Government official at the heart of all this (his greatest challenge however is to make Thanos a compelling villain in the MCU and I have doubts he can pull that off), Del Toro is terrific here as well but for me the best performance in the film is Blunt.

I have been a fan of this woman ever since first seeing her in the Devil Wears Prada and she has not let me down since and here she provides to perfect anchor for the audience to be able this very shady script even if the focus goes away from her slightly towards the end, hopefully she will be able to find that cut through role she deserves as she has been consistently great for a long time now and her work here is also very reminiscent of Jodie Foster's as Clarice Starling in the Silence of the Lambs.

Where the film does falter a little bit however is in Taylor Sheridan's screenplay as numerous times I found myself predicting what was going to happen and it pretty much did but apart from that little bit of silliness I was won over by the film when it was over which shows that you write off a film easily before it's over at your own risk.

And so that was Sicario, if I had seen it last year it would've missed out on my top films ranking but it's not that far behind and I very highly recommend it, 4 out of 5.