Easily one of the finest films you'll see all year, director Denis Villeneuve's (PRISONERS, INCENDIES) SICARIO is so good for so many reasons that to break it down into its elements seems sacrilegious, since the complex ways the pieces interconnect is the largest part of its perfection. On the surface, the film is a cynical, yet authentic look at the state of the ongoing, bloody drug war happening on a daily basis along the border between the U.S. and Mexico. But what's going on under the surface of Sicario is what makes it so damn sinister and brilliant and soul crushing.
The movie is also the story of one woman, FBI Agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt), who has just enough of a soul that she feels a commitment to get some brand of justice against the drug dealers who are responsible for a booby trap during an Arizona kidnapping raid that killed fellow officers. When a slick character like Josh Brolin's Matt comes in claiming to be a part of a special task force assigned to get the upper-echelon Mexican drug players responsible for those deaths, Kate really doesn't have a choice but to say yes to whatever is about to happen or how far over the line it might go. Kate knows that Matt is lying—and she suspects he's actually CIA—but that doesn't mean he won't get the job done, especially with the paramilitary operatives he's got at his disposal.
From a screenplay by former "Sons of Anarchy" actor Taylor Sheridan, SICARIO also has as its not-so-secret weapon the shadiest of characters, Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro), a man who is always around, seems to know the inner workings of these drug games better than anyone, but chooses to stay in the background until his true mission is revealed. He and Kate form an uneasy alliance, mostly because she reminds him of someone he lost a while ago, and as a result, he's uncharacteristically protective of her. When Alejandro is finally set loose in the film's final act, it's almost hard to digest exactly how vengeful he is willing to get.
There isn't any one thing that makes SICARIO function so beautifully; it's all things. The story is complex but director Villeneuve does a remarkable job of keeping the pieces fairly clear and the geography of every firefight and chase sequence easy for us to follow. There are a great number of stunning aerial shots of various locations where the action is about to take place, and by allowing us to establish the location like that, the filmmaker lets us know where the good guys and bad guys will be at any given moment.
But there is more to the strategy at play than just points on a map. SICARIO breaks down the current state of the war on drugs—as always, we are losing, but the mission plan has changed drastically, and it seems to involve controlling the influx of drugs and its associated violence than flat out stopping it. There are a couple of points during the story where Kate makes it clear that what's about to happen is illegal on the part of the people she's working with, and it is main brutally clear that the lines that should not be crossed have forever moved. Once that lesson sinks in, your vision may seem cloudy and your heart may sink. Even worse (or better, depending on your vantage point) is that these new tactics seem to be working, at least in this version of events.
SICARIO is populated by some fascinating supporting players, including Daniel Kaluuya as Kate's FBI partner Reggie, who is trying desperately to look out for her, even though he's not technically part of her work with Matt's team. The way Reggie is treated by the government and military is appalling, because they don't view him as an effective part of the solution. Also floating around the perimeter are Victor Garber as Kate's FBI chief, an unrecognizable Jeffrey Donovan as an early-stage operative working with Matt, and Jon Bernthal, as a police officer that briefly represents Kate's most recent (and failed) shot at a romantic entanglement.
One of the most fascinating and intriguing characters in the film is Silvio (Maximiliano Hernández, probably best know as Agent Sitwell from various Marvel films), a Mexican State Police officer with a wife and child. We see him periodically throughout the film going about his day and night with his family and on the job, and we're not quite sure what his connection to the rest of the plot is until it becomes terribly clear. To include a sidestory like that that doesn't pay off until the final portion of the film is a bold choice by both the screenwriter and the director, but its inclusion shows us just how many good people trying to earn an extra dollar (or perhaps not even given a choice) are pulled into this war and are made to suffer as a result.
As much as some people writing about this film will paint Blunt's Kate as some kind of badass (and she certainly has that in her), that's not really the focal point of her character. She's a ethical member of law enforcement who allows herself to be corrupted just a bit, thinking she can pull herself out when she wants, but the idea of fighting this war from the inside is just too much of a temptation to her. She's knows she's somehow being used, and a part of her doesn't care, even when she says she does. It's by far the best work of Blunt's career, and I can't wait to see what she does in the years to come.
But it's Del Toro's Alejandro that's going to captivate you. Once we realize just how broken and dead inside he is, it's way too late. Quite often with a character like his, you're rooting for him to get the justice he seeks, but I'm not sure that's the case here, which doesn't make him any less intriguing. Del Toro has always been an actor who has been comfortable working in the background, because he knows how to steal a scene by doing what is perceived as nothing—which is, of course, his greatest gift. Small gestures and barely noticeable looks are his tools. The final third of this film belongs to him, and you may wish that wasn't the case by the end, because you can't unsee or easily forget what he does here.
SICARIO (which means "Hitman" in Spanish) will absolutely be part of the end-of-year conversation and rightfully so. If you are a sucker for a happy, neatly tied up end, look elsewhere. Go back the kids' table and finish your juice box. This film is for grown folks who enjoy using their brains while watching movies and have a clear sense of the dirty world around them. If that sounds like you, you're in for a hell of a time at the movies.
