Sicario

It comes as no surprise that Sicario is a brilliant, first class piece of filmmaking. I had been eagerly anticipating its early expansion, and jumped at the first screening I could. What a director Denis Villeneuve is turning out to be. The gritty ferocity of this film, and that of his 2013 masterpiece Prisoners, makes Villeneuve THE director to watch in my opinion. Yet he certainly isn't alone here. The cinematography by Roger Deakins, who also shot Prisoners, is simply breathtaking. The look and feel of this film is almost as impactful as the brutal violence. It's ominous, unsettling and frenetic where appropriate. The pacing is top notch, and it sure does open and close with a bang. You certainly would not expect a cast this good to be the weak link, and they aren't. Brolin's swagger works to great effect here, as does Emily Blunt's dual tough FBI agent/babe in the woods routine. Although, the FBI should be a liitle miffed at how they're depicted here. Since for much of the film, they do come off looking like a bunch of "out of their element" bureaucrats. Firmly in his element however, is Benicio Del Torro, who steals the show as a shadowy man who could best be described as a Frankenstein created by the harsh and unspeakable realities of dealing with the cartels. You'll hang on every word, gesture and yes, even every monstrous act. It is an utterly captivating performance. In fact, there really isn't any element of this film that's not pitch perfect. Even the score is perfection. A haunting job done by composer Jóhann Jóhannsson. One of the best films of the year that doesn't play it fair, nice, or safe. A perfect shock to the system of a PC infected culture, and a rather damning indictment of the cyclical hopelessness of the war on drugs.