Sicario embodies the thrilling and violent reality of the borders and their ongoing struggle with drugs and power.
The film opens with the FBI’s aggressive raid of a suspected drug cartel house, framed by the usual bravado and military precision of such raids in American films. Sicario quickly distances itself from the norm by transforming the mundane Arizona house into a horrific cartel graveyard, the bodies encased in plastic slowly rotting in the walls. While the officers are still reeling at the discovery, an explosion from the garage solidifies the cartel as an evil that needs to be stopped, prompting Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) to join a task force that can catch the men that are really responsible.
The audience shares Kate’s confusion as she is suddenly thrust from scene to scene with little to no information, her blind compliance an expectation. Matt Graver’s (Josh Brolin) relaxed and glib attitude is a stark contrast to the horrible reality of the modern war in which his team is fighting. This smirk paired with his deliberate elusiveness makes him a suspicious character, so Kate tends to gravitate towards the mysterious war dog Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro).
In Juarez, the order, law and justice from which Kate summons her strength starts to dissipate before her eyes. While her shady co-workers revel in the blood and torture that is intrinsic to power, Kate refuses to reject rules and regulations, causing the naïve agent to unravel just as the guns start blazing.
Sicario is careful to embody the ubiquitous fear that pervades cities run by drug lords, ensuring the film has an omnipresent tension. Director Villeneuve only slows down the pace of the film to twist Kate’s scenario and create greater upcoming tension. This apprehension is made possible by the impeccable performances by the main characters. They approach their roles with the same understated, methodical and realistic approach as the film, refusing to pander to the artifice and melodrama seen in similar crime dramas. Somewhat typical of Villeneuve, much of the intent and plot is left unsaid, relying on the audience to infer their own understanding through the characters’ looks, gestures and attitudes. This muted emotion allows for a more powerful subtext, such as Blunt’s depiction of Kate’s slow and disturbing dissolution of the idealism she clung to in her previous position in the force. Del Toro embraces the quiet powerhouse that is Alejandro, subtly creating a captivating character that is neither good nor bad. While Brolin is a necessary element of levity in the dark film, he still represents a faceless form of authority that abolishes the existing set of rules, blurring the lines of power and justice.
Sicario is a haunting and powerful piece of cinema that needs to be seen at the movies to experience the huge canvas it was designed for.