2015 was, in my opinion, a great year for movies. Some films provided sheer, blistering entertainment such as Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Jurassic World. Some films created a story that I became deeply invested in, for example The Revenant and Creed. The Hateful Eight was a tour-de-force in the art of dialogue, Spectre bought us another thrilling James Bond sequel and The Lobster gave us an absurd, dystopian black comedy. But one film stood head and shoulders above all else that year: Denis Villeneuve’s gripping thriller Sicario.
Sicario is centred around the issue of the war against drugs, and is set against the lawless backdrop of the United States-Mexico border. Kate Macey (Emily Blunt) is enlisted by United States government official Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) into an elite taskforce that is led by the mysterious, and often unsettling, Alejandro Gillick (Benicio del Toro) to help on a covert mission to take down a notorious drug warlord. Directed by Denis Villeneuve, Sicario is a realistic, no-holds-barred look at the war on drugs from the viewpoint of the most secretive agencies in the United States. Working alongside cinematographer Roger Deakins and composer Jöhann Jöhannsson, Villeneuve effectively managed to create a captivating storyline, accompanied by beautiful cinematography and a tension-creating score.
Firstly, the performances from the three main leads – Blunt, Brolin and del Toro – are fantastic. Emily Blunt’s portrayal is unsettlingly natural in her depiction of morally-conscious Macey, with her performances sometimes bordering on traumatic. It adds a hidden depth to the usual government-takes-down-warlord action movie, giving it a much more grounded feeling as Macey struggles to cope with her experiences in Mexico. Josh Brolin is often unsettling in his portrayal of an over-assured government agent. His personality, whilst serious, can border on psychopathic – much like Benicio del Toro’s Alejandro. The crown jewel of all of the performances. I have always liked del Toro, ever since I first saw him in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) and The Wolfman (2010), but this role seems to fit him like a glove. You can’t even tell that he’s acting until the credits roll and you’re reminded that this isn’t a documentary. He is intense and mysterious, yet at the same time an obviously conflicted family man, adding bigger stakes to his mission and a personal vendetta to settle with his enemies.
Behind the performances, there is Roger Deakins’ beautiful cinematography – as usual. Whilst this cinematography is not conventionally pretty like in his work from Blade Runner 2049 (2017), O Brother, Where Art Thou (2000) or The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), his realism is what gives such a fantastic look to the film. Much like his cinematography on No Country for Old Men (2007) and Skyfall (2012), Sicario actually looks like life. There is one fantastic scene in the film where the camera follows a group of soldiers through the dark, midnight desert which is actually shot in night vision mode, to see what the soldiers saw. Wanting to add realism to Sicario, Villeneuve and Deakins decided not to add the effect in post-production, but to instead film through night vision. The little details really add to the feel of the film, and Deakins is often responsible, or at least co-responsible, for the subtle but important effects.
To match Deakins’ aesthetic of the film, Icelandic composer Jöhann Jöhannsson was bought in to write a score that is often dissonant, intense and brooding. It is exactly what Sicario needs to set the musical tone of the film. Not John Williams. Not Hans Zimmer. The late, great Jöhannsson will go down in history as a great composer, and Sicario features some of his best work. It adds another layer to the film, the harsh music and beating drums giving an emphasis to the intensity of the situations the characters find themselves in and it fits so perfectly. Whilst it was such a tragic death at such an early age, we can all be thankful to Jöhannsson for providing us with some fantastic film scores that hopefully will go on to inspire future composers.
Sicario is not only an important piece of cinema – an original, authentic piece of modern cinema – but an important commentary of the events of today. It does make you question your morals, ideas and ethics and displays the harsh reality of the war on drugs. You find yourself in a constant dilemma, your mind fractured between supporting Kate Macey one minute and then backing Alejandro and Matt Graver the next. It is not a light-hearted film in the slightest, but it is crucially important in gaining an insight into our own minds about how we feel about modern-day issues.
Sicario, I am sure, will go down in history as a piece of fantastic cinema and will hopefully be regarded as a ‘modern classic’. It doesn’t subscribe to over-sensationalism or over-the-top special effects. Villeneuve wanted to create a gripping story of blurred morals and intense action, without over-saturating the film with explosions or Wilhelm screams and he has done so brilliantly. It is intense, gritty and important, and a ‘modern classic’ is exactly what it should be regarded as.
Build the Scene Reviews 