"Sicario" Is A Total Knockout

"Sicario" begins with one of the most quietly mesmerizing opening sequences in recent history. Kate Macer (Emily Blunt), an FBI agent leads a house raid in Arizona connected to the drug cartel responsible for kidnapping a group of hostages. What ensues, however, is anything but what Kate or her team expected; an all 'too easy' shoot out, rows and rows of dead bodies hidden behind the walls and a deafening explosion. The film's booming (but never overbearing) score by the always reliable Jóhann Jóhannsson lingers over the scene. It's clear to us that the team further from finding there target than before they started.

Over the next two hours, director Denis Villeneuve and screenwriter Taylor Sheridan take the audience on an unrelentingly tense roller coaster ride that will have you on the edge of your seat until after the credits roll. Much like Villeneuve's last film, "Prisoners", "Sicario" is bleak. After being recruited for a covert operation to irritate the Mexican drug cartel by the flip-flop wearing Matt Graver (Josh Brolin), Kate's moral and ethical standards are pushed to their breaking points. Matt's plan is a simple one: irritate the Mexican drug cartel until they slip up enough for the CIA to come in with a strong enough case to put them away.

The operation is, quietly, run by Alejandro Gillick (Benecio del Toro), who Kate is suspicious of from the get go. Bullets fly, and SUVS zoom by with Alejandro leading the team to nonchalantly picking off person after to person as if it's nothing. Kate (and the audience by proxy) is left shaken, waiting for the next body to drop or the next bomb to explode. As the viewer, you're placed in the epicenter of the action, desperately waiting for the tension to let up.

Spoiler alert: It never does. 

If that isn't enough, "Sicario" is filled with plenty of plot-twists to keep the story moving along. At a 120 minute running time, you'd expect that there'd be a moment or two where the story dragged, even a little bit. But the film is wound as tightly as its lead heroine, and expertly edited to keep you from checking your cell phone or asking, "How much longer?" On the contrary, by the time the credits roll, you're left wanting even more.

Which makes the announcement that the film could potentially be receiving a sequel very exciting. Very rarely is it that we have a mainstream, action film centered around a complex female character, let alone a series. Blunt's performance is unlike anything you've seen from the actress before, and will surely usher in a new phase of the actresses career. She plunges deep into the neurosis of Kate's unraveling psyche, perfectly sketching the moral crossroads she's faced with. She tells stories with a simple glance, and while it's a more subdued performance than you'd expect, it's all the more compelling thanks to Blunt's effective work.

The film's greatest surprise, however, is del Toro's multi-layered performance. The film manages to be as tense of an experience as it is because of his how completely menacing he plays Alejandro. We're never quite sure where his loyalties lie, and we know even less about what his job is, or even who he is; he is the human poker face. It's not until the very end that the actor gets his close-up, in fact, he spends a great deal of the film standing in the background, making his presence felt in slight mannerisms. But it wouldn't be as effective of a sequence had he not slowly been building to it over the course of the film.

For all of its moral ambiguity and bleak overcast, this is a gorgeously rendered film. The cinematography leaves grim sequences looking downright beautiful. Rodger Deakins keeps reinventing himself film after film after film, managing to make the barren desert one of the most eye-catching canvases. There's a scene towards the end that recalls the military raid sequence from "Zero Dark Thirty" only 100 times more engrossing. A mixture of PoV shots through night and thermal vision goggles prove to be unlike anything else in film this year, and add to the overall intensity; It's unforgettable.

"Sicario" is a film that's much more concerned with exploring ideas than it is with attention grabbing action sequences, though it has just the right amount of those. The film asks its lead heroine, and us, if it's worth it to bend the rules in chase of an outcome that may never come to pass. Much like Kate, we're not so sure we have the answers.

Grade: A+

Oscar Chances: The film's positive reception from critics and audiences bode well for a shot at a Best Picture nomination. I could see del Toro breaking into the Supporting Actor category, especially since  it's such a memorable role and performance. Blunt is complete deserving, but may face stiff competition in Best Actress. Screenplay, Editing, Cinematography... all deserving, but completely depend on the film's reception from voters and on its box office stamina.