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Sicario - Movie Review

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5 stars

Wow.  To think it was just earlier this week that I wrote about how gruesome Eli Roth’s The Green Inferno is and why that graphic repugnance is much needed in our uber-safeguarded world.  Following in step with that line of thought comes director Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners) with one of the most violently effective films of the year.  It is an unsettling film designed to further shake the foundations with a graphic expression concerning America’s morally charged war against drugs.  To put it bluntly, Sicario (which, in Colombia, typically means to kill someone for money) is a brutal slice of cinematic grind that, as Slayer once put it, reigns in blood.

The concentrated chaos and moral ambiguity of Sicario opens in Arizona.  FBI agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) and her response team are close to the discovery of the location of a brutal drug lord’s kidnapped victims.  The victims stand in silence.  Heads wrapped in swaths of plastic; mere shadows behind the wall.  Their anguish is muted.  The horror of the unnerving discovery registers with us; this picture isn’t going to be pretty.  And that’s exactly why Sicario matters.  Villeneuve dares go where other action thrillers will not in the frequency and scope of its violence. 

And so begins Kate’s mysterious trip into a ferocious world she has no hope in ever understanding.  Recruited to catch a deadly Mexican drug lord, Kate’s journey brings her in close contact with team leader Matt Graver (Josh Brolin), an FBI cohort (Daniel Kaluuya) and Alejandro, another operative (Benicio Del Toro), as they betray trust, break laws, and kill while going back-and-forth across the U.S.-Mexican border, using one drug lord (Bernardo Saracino) to catch an ever bigger fish (Julio Cesar Cedillo).

Kate is the audience’s guide in this highly sick and twisted world of bold deals, good shots, and violent repercussions.  She doesn’t understand everything that happens and you won’t either but having the time to react to the insanity of life inside the devil’s prism means your death.  Sicario is almost always in motion; it’s move, move, and move through this druggie world of underworld realities with far-reaching consequences.  Hookah smoking caterpillars indeed. 

Sprinkled throughout Villeneuve’s landscape are the carcasses of babies and families.  Flies flint upon closed eyelids.  This is like Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian put to film.  Intense.  Bitter.  Much of Sicario is entirely effective in delivering one what-the-fuck scene after another.  And your reactions will be exactly like Kate’s as she witnesses one atrocity after another.  Her performance here – which is mostly of the reactionary sense complete with shocked stances and big eyes – is absolutely necessary.  She’s our thermostat and is the only connection we have to resisting the brutality around her. 

Villeneuve is not celebrating the violence of his picture; his message is clear.  It is more than obvious that he despises the blunt and brutal measures with which we fight to win or continue losing this war.  This is also communicated by the successes of the picture as Kate descends into the madness of losing to win and wincing at every loud noise.  His direction, while grounded in reality, resists the cynicism that encircles the idealistic Kate as her path into the darkness is one full of blinding illumination. 

What is seen can never be unseen and, trust me, Sicario should be seen and applauded.

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[tab title="Film Details"]

Sicario - Movie Review

MPAA Rating: R for strong violence, grisly images, and language
Runtime:
121 mins
Director
: Denis Villeneuve
Writer:
Taylor Sheridan
Cast:
Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro
Genre
: Action | Crime | Drama
Tagline:
The border is just another line to cross.
Memorable Movie Quote: "You saw things you shouldn't have seen."
Distributor:
Lionsgate
Official Site: http://www.sicariofilm.com/
Release Date:
October 2, 2015
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
January 5, 2016
Synopsis: In Mexico, Sicario means hitman. 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 clandestine journey forcing Kate to question everything that she believes in order to survive.

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[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]

Sicario - Blu-ray Review

Blu-ray

Blu-ray Details:

Available on Blu-ray - January 5, 2015
Screen Formats: 2.40:1
Subtitles
: English, English SDH, Spanish
Audio:
English: Dolby Atmos; English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit); Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps); English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (224 kbps)
Discs: 50GB Blu-ray Disc; Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD); UV digital copy; iTunes digital copy; Digital copy; DVD copy
Region Encoding: A

Released by Lionsgate, the 2:40:1 digital transfer absolutely highlights the incredible eye of the film’s cinematographer, Roger Deakens.  With crisp details and saturated hues, the American Southwest certainly shines on this bloodied transfer.  There are an abundance of supple details throughout the transfer.  From clothing threads to landscape vistas, Sicario’s blu-ray debut handles it all.  The sound – presented here in a grand Dolby Atmos mix – is a good mix of front-channel dialogue and rear-channel gunfire.  It’s certain to curl some toes with its expressive nature.

Supplements:

Commentary:

  • None

Special Features:

Highlighting design choices, musical choices, and interviews with the cast and crew, there are 50-minutes of featurettes covering the making of the movie and its impact. Screenwriter Tyler Sheridan also gets about 15 minutes of the spotlight to talk about the narrative and its exploration of the war on drugs. He also discusses his inspiration for the movie, recalling the plight of El Paso journalists.

Stepping Into Darkness: The Visual Design of Sicario (16 min)

Characters of Sicario (15 min)

The Score of Sicario (6 min)

Battle Zone: The Origins of Sicario (14 min)

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