The line between right and wrong is blurred dramatically in Director Denis Villenueve (Prisoners) newest drug war pulse pounding thriller, “Sicario”. In the lawless border area stretching between the U.S. and Mexico, an idealistic FBI agent (Emily Blunt) is enlisted by an elite government task force official (Josh Brolin) to aid in the escalating war against drugs. Led by an enigmatic consultant with a questionable past (Benicio Del Toro), the team sets out on a dangerous journey forcing Kate to question everything that she believes in order to survive. “Sicario” started with an enthralling shoot em up scene that gives the viewers that perfect little taste of what’s to come. What is unfortunate is that during the second act, there is a lot of expositional dialogue scenes that drown out a lot of the pacing for the film between the real good stuff. But if you stick through it, the finale of this film will not only punch you right in the gut forcefully with it’s twists and turns, but it will leave a lasting impression emotionally as to the way the world really moves. If you can’t tell, i absolutely enjoyed this film and it’s impressive technical aspects that places this film in a league of it’s own when it comes to it’s competition in Mexican drug cartel flicks. It’s led by impressive cinematography from one of it’s greatest providers in the game right now, Roger Deakins. He provides beautiful shots amongst an aura of hopelessness in the air surrounding this small village in Mexico that serves as a victim or drug trades, as well as daily gunshots. What Deakins does is truly magical in a story with an attitude this thick. There are a lot of wide shots of the sky, as well as the silent storm from far away. We see what is going on during these field trips to Mexico, but we hear quiet from afar. That is done effortlessly in order to build the tension for the next cut that we know will blow us all away by Villenueve’s second to none camera work and direction. I want to talk a little bit about the performances in this film because they are both hit and miss for me. Josh Brolin is the leader of this operation, and i greatly enjoyed his conceited nature when doing the nasty things it takes to make these operations go successful. He’s a man who takes pride in his work, and he serves as kind of the antagonist for much of the film, during a time when we don’t know his motivations for these missions. Benicio Del Toro is spellbinding. His character (Like always) is very quiet, and it’s because of that the audience carefully hangs on every word that he says. So much backstory was built with his character in the third act of the film, and it’s funny because we feel like his character is the most interesting long before these revelations. More on his character in a second. Emily Blunt gave a good performance, but my problem with her character is that this script gives her nothing to do. I don’t want to lay accusations here, but so far Villeneuve has had problems directing females in three of his films. I’m not saying he is unable to write for women, but they are easily the least interesting aspects of all of his films. What makes Blunt’s character a near disaster is that she serves as our main protagonist, and the one who is our thin chance at good prevailing over evil in this film. But the problem in that conflict is that despite many scenes that could provide her reflection, she is never at the crossroads point in this film. For most of the movie, she remains mute or complaining as to what is going on around her, and i could’ve honestly done without her character if that was the best i was going to get. Apparently, the movie agreed with me as well, because the movie drops her character off during the beginning of the third act, in favor of another character to take the reigns for a majority of screen time. Selfishly, i am glad this happened because the film was greatly starting to suffer during the second act, with Blunt’s character at the helm for many of these scenes with no great payoff. There was even one scene that was fairly obvious her character was NOT being choked out by a male cast member. Listen, i’m not saying kill the girl, but when i can’t see veins or even stressful red skin tones on her, it’s a little hard to suspend disbelief as to her character being in serious turmoil. Without spoiling much, i am very glad that the film decided to change it up for the ending, and it’s in that finale where the movie really drives home it’s memorable line, “This is now a land of wolves”. “Sicario” also features one of the very best musical scores that i have heard this year. Johann Johannsson really instills a lot of the intensite for these driving scenes, as his tracks start off very faint in the distance, but then rush to our ears quickly like vehicle right on our tail. It reminded me a lot of the scores used in David Fincher films like “Seven”, and i think it was appropriate for a film like this to use horror genre tones for it’s bleak setting. Overall “Sicario” is a nightmare of shakesperian proportions. Vilenueve opens the eyes of the viewers to his dark tones and we keep coming back for more. He is easily one of my favorite directors working today, and i am interested to see what he does next.

8/10