‘Sicario’ hits its target dead on

With only three films under his belt, Denis Villeneuve has proven himself to be a masterclass filmmaker, as each of his efforts have been relatively different from one another. He made a dower, contained thriller with Prisoners and more baffling, strange thriller with Enemy. Now,as his third film Sicario comes, he makes yet another taut thriller, this one more grimy and rough.

Opening limited on Sept. 17 and expanding nationwide on Oct. 2, Villeneuve’s narco-cartel flick doesn’t really have a central character, but begins with FBI agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) in the middle of a drug bust in Arizona that goes awry. After the event, she’s recruited by task force leader Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) to take down the men responsible for the incident. Along with the mysterious assassin Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro), Macer travels to Juarez, Mexico to execute their target, but things don’t go the way she was told they’d go.

It would be a crime to discuss this film without mentioning the jaw-dropping cinematography by Roger Deakins. Whatever’s happening in a scene, even the virtually unnoticeable details such as dust floating on a windowsill, the audience feels it, and that’s because of his keen camera setups. He even manages to make shaky night vision sequences look as eloquent and crisp as his gorgeous aerial shots. This is the best looking film of the year without a doubt.

The performances are all terrific as well, as each lead gets their own time to shine and have an equal focus and significance to the story. Del Toro’s role in particular is extremely well played and is always taking unexpected twists and turns. There’s also a massive amount of tension here in essentially every scene, especially one involving a broken down car on the highway. There’s never a moment where the film isn’t on edge.
Villeneuve has crafted yet another masterful thriller with an extraordinary spectacle due to the brilliance of Roger Deakins and another great cast. It’s dark, haunting and definitely not for those with weak stomachs, but worth a shot nevertheless.