Border Crisis?

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 Sicario (2015)

Written by Caleb Madden

Denis Villeneuve is quickly becoming one of my favorite directors. Of course, he’s most known recently for Dune and the upcoming Dune 2, but I think his real gems are found earlier in his filmography. Movies like Arrival, Prisoners, and my pick for this week (and my personal favorite of his) Sicario.

Border Crisis?

If you haven’t seen Sicario, you should watch it, but if you aren’t sold yet think Hurt Locker meets Narcos. The film follows a young and hungry FBI agent Kate Macer (played by the excellent Emily Blunt) as she begins to discover the true depth of the Cartels’ depravity in their efforts to make as much money as possible. It is a thrilling and often terrifying depiction of corruption and violence for the sake of “protecting our country” and boy is it a wild ride. It really does feel like this movie was ghost directed by Katheryn Bigelow.

Some of Our Finest Living Actors

One of the things that really takes this movie to the next level is the unparalleled talent that is present in this movie. At the center, as mentioned before, you have Emily Blunt. There is a scene where she gets attacked by none other than Jon Bernthal and let me tell you the performance she gives is unbelievable. To either side of her we have Josh Brolin, playing a soulless CIA agent set on doing whatever he wants. Josh may be at his most manipulative and smarmy in this movie, yet his physical presence on screen is still powerful and intimidating. On the other we have Benicio Del Toro. The second he steps on screen you tense up because you actually believe he will kill you in real life. This is definitely a character driven movie and luckily Denis is an excellent director of characters.

Searingly Bleak

What really makes me love this movie is its unrelentingly dark outlook on the world. Much like its sister films Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty, and No Country for Old Men, this movie pulls no punches when it comes to showing the depravity of the world. I won’t spoil the movie by telling you its central switch but at its core this movie says “America will do whatever the hell it wants to stay in control” and let me tell you its not good. I just love that this film isn’t afraid or shy about showing us just how dark the world is around us.

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