Most movies today give you a good feeling leaving the theater. The whole film isn’t necessarily upbeat, but usually the conflict gets resolved, and the protagonist comes out on top by the end. “Sicario” is not one of those movies. It left me with a hopeless feeling and the need to go take a cold shower. Not to be misconstrued, “Sicario” is a well-crafted film with phenomenal performances and camerawork, but the non-stop emotional beating makes it hard to recommend without a disclaimer.
“Sicario,” which is the Spanish word for “hit man,” follows FBI agent Kate Macer, played by Emily Blunt, and her increasingly dangerous missions on and across the Mexican border. She takes orders from the unorthodox Matt Graver, played by a T-shirt-wearing Josh Brolin, who constantly and purposefully lies to her about what their mission is and her role in it. Working with them is Alejandro, an outside force with dubious intent, played by a slimy Benicio del Toro. The line between what is right and wrong get blurred as Macer witnesses what truly goes on underneath the surface in the fights against the Mexican cartel.
Director Denis Villeneuve specializes in dark, depressing movies — see 2013’s “Enemy” or “Prisoners” for examples. But his films are all expertly put together, giving a sense of beauty to the hopeless tone. Shades of brown permeate the color palette in every scene, from the lighting and wallpaper of the rooms to the vast expanses of dirty deserts to the thousands of identical brown houses hiding cartel secrets.
The Mexican cities hold both handball courts and hanging corpses, adding to the intense unease and haunted atmosphere of the characters’ situation. Throughout the film, Villeneuve numbs the horrific violence, and it seems the only character to feel the impact of the murdering and torturing is Macer.
Blunt does an incredible job giving viewers a moral center to get behind. She doesn’t play the role as an impenetrable badass, but she also isn’t a damsel in distress. She is a real person getting wrapped up into an organization and missions that go deeper than she could have possibly imagined. She gets no breaks and takes the punches in stride, but she is only human and has her limits. Brolin’s performance as the laid-back leader, who says things like, “These peanuts are bitchin’,” is further twisted by his involvement with the atrocities taking place, changing from comic relief to unfeeling leader as the film progresses. But by far the best performance comes from del Toro. His character has the darkest past and most complex motivations, and del Toro pulls it off beautifully through his permanently tired facial expressions, giving the impression that no matter what violence is committed, he has seen much worse. Del Toro gets lost in the role, and I can’t get into more without spoiling the film, but trust me when I say his performance in the last 20 minutes or so is unforgettable in a harrowing way.
While the drama gets portrayed perfectly by the characters, the action is up there with some of the best set pieces of the year. A simple in-and-out operation turns into a tense traffic jam, with every car being a potential enemy. A raid into a cartel member’s house give the film realistic explosions and intensity. But by far the best action comes in the final act, when the crew goes into a late-night operation with night-vision and thermal-detecting goggles, with minimal sound except for the military jargon and gunshots heightening the stakes exponentially.
The only problems I have with the film come through in the story. It’s difficult to go into detail without spoiling the entire film, but the moral of the story was not something I agreed with. It neither attempts to justify the cruelty nor criticize it; the violence is just omnipresent and a necessary part of life. When I was little, I would empathize with the most minor movie characters and feel devastated when they died (rest in peace, policemen turned to skeletons by the Green Goblin in “Spiderman”). While I have grown a little since then, I still don’t enjoy movies with innocent families slaughtered under the guise of revenge. The final scene of the movie left me with the impression that Villeneuve thinks the world is as apathetic toward atrocities as the characters, and I didn’t feel the same way.
Nevertheless, “Sicario” did enough right to warrant a difference in ideals being my only complaint. Amazing performances and expert cinematography make the film worth a view — just be warned that the message will not leave you feeling warm and fuzzy afterwards.
_MOVE gives “Sicario” four out of five stars._
