Sicario

It's true - 2015's SICARIO does seem like ZERO DARK THIRTY's scrappier cousin.  I don't know if that is good or bad or if it just is.   Interest was usually maintained with ZERO as I watched, and despite my misgivings with that sleek but empty film I do give it some props.  There are numerous similarities with SICARIO: frustrated, single (and single-minded) heroine who works for the government and wants justice but is thwarted by her own superiors.  A scene of the undeniably effective methods of torture.  A climactic mission seen through night goggles and thermal cameras. Very blurry morality from those who call themselves the good guys, the same ones who justify using evil to work towards good. And so on. Ultimately, SICARIO is more of an action film, though with just as much on its mind.

The story begins with a dedicated FBI agent named Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) who watches some of her fellow officers fall to a booby trapped drug cartel safe house in Arizona.  She also makes the ghastly discovery of several decaying corpses within the walls of the house, a sight that sickens and debilitates her partner Reggie (Daniel Kaluuya). The Department of Justice surveys the scene and offers Kate a spot on a joint task force with a mission to capture a Mexico based cartel lieutenant named Manuel Diaz, likely responsible for the bloodbath at the safe house.  Reggie is not invited.

Kate all but tags along, always kept in the dark about the what and the why, even as the team (comprised of DEA agents and a Delta Force unit) butchers illegals in broad daylight on a freeway.  DOJ adviser Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) is vague and a bit too casual about it all.  He tells her to watch and learn.  Even worse is the mysterious Alejandro Gillick (Benicio del Toro), a so-called advisor cum consultant who also seems strangely indifferent at first.  Much of the early going in SICARIO involves Kate's rants and confrontations with Graver.  Blunt's performance is quite similar to that of Jessica Castain in the aforementioned earlier movie.

Inevitably, the true natures and motives of the team leaders (and the mission itself) emerge. Gillick proves to be quite a dangerous individual.  Reggie eventually gets to join the action and his presence both hinders and helps to secure the directive.  Taylor Sheridan's script is another of his Southwestern U.S. sagas, filled with moments of truth and perception and a lot of firepower.  I was not terribly impressed with the screenplay initially but reflection does offer its rewards, allows the scenario to expand in one's mind.  Yes, the war on drugs has been a thirty plus year failure, a deadly and expensive joke.  Profitable, too.  SICARIO is ultimately as cynical as any other drama with this storyline.  But consider also Sheridan's character sketches, and the effective element (also all too familiar) of how women are marginalized by males in the workplace and in the field.  There are some astute observations here.

Director Denis Villeneuve and cinematographer Rogers Deakins create a well composed and visually commanding movie, bolstered by a thundering Johann Johannsson score.  Overall, it's impressive, with a few unforgettable moments, but deja vu always threatens to win the arm wrestling match. Quite overrated, in my opinion.  You might say that SICARIO is akin to a longer, more ambitious episode of Narcos.