By: Dave Clark
I was lucky enough to be invited to a special screening of the upcoming Lionsgate film Sicario. Going into the movie, I had some high expectations as the trailers mention, the movie has been getting rave reviews by critics nationwide. It has a stellar cast with Josh Brolin, Beinicio del Toro, and Emily Blunt leading the way. So, I expected a lot from this crime thriller about the Drug War on the U.S. and Mexico boarder...and I wasn't disappointed.
The overall plot and story of the film is fairly basic. Its an inside look at what the United States is doing to stop or at least slow down the drug trafficking across the U.S. and Mexico boarder. Our main character FBI Agent Kate Macer (Blunt) is thrown into this war when she goes into home in Arizona to rescue hostages, only to find a building filled with bodies (literally, dead bodies lined the walls throughout the building). She feels a strong need to find the people responsible for this extremely heinous act so when approached by Matt Graver (Brolin) she jumps at the opportunity to help out in any way possible. Much of her involvement in this case is kept a mystery to her throughout the entire film. It's not until the very end that she realizes exactly why she was chosen to help with this mission.
There were a LOT of bright spots in this film. The acting was phenomenal. From the three stars all the way through Victor Garber and Jon Bernthal (who has only a brief appearance), the performances were amazing. The characters were extremely well done, you really begin to feel for Kate and want her to succeed in the mission and find those responsible and stop the drug trade if at all possible. She is by the books and she's good at her job. She's flanked by her sort of green partner Reggie Wayne (Daniel Kaluuya), he's a new FBI agent but has proven to be adept to the position.
The music in the movie is subtle but very important to setting the tone of the scenes. The pacing of the film will have some people thinking its too slow, but that's the point. This movie is a literal rollercoaster. You get lulled in by the dialogue and then a big moment will happen that's set up by the soft and subtle tones of the score. It has a real Jaws effect on the moment and you find yourself starting to tense up as the action unfolds.
There are moments in the film where you might find yourself questioning a lot of what's happening. Like, why do they really need Kate to be involved in the first place? Seems like a lot of potential trouble just to have her there to witness everything. And the reality of the ending is a cold harsh truth that you can actually believe would be true in the way of the world today (I'm trying to be vague as I don't want to give away the ending to the story). Also I question why they really needed her partner to join the team as in the beginning Graver (Brolin) doesn't want him on board, with his past as a lawyer he tends to look down on Reggie. So I have to wonder, why even bother having him join the team when all he does is present a considerable roadblock with his questions and defense of Kate at every turn (as a good partner should).
Overall, I really enjoyed this movie. It lived up to the critic hype it had been receiving going into seeing the film. It had slow moments but I didn't find myself looking at my watch to see what time it was or how much time had passed. I wasn't bored in this movie, and I was on the edge of my seat during the high tension moments of action. Again, the acting performances were above and beyond what you might see these days from actors just mailing it in and collecting a check. I highly suggest checking this one out in theaters near you!