Sicario (2015)

Sicario ('Hitman' in Mexican) is well worth your viewing time. The ever- reliable Emily Blunt excels here as FBI agent and hostage specialist Kate Macer. After a gruesome discovery in Phoenix, Kate becomes an idealistic fish-out-of-water in a complex CIA mission, run by Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) against a notorious Mexican drug cartel. Key to the mission is Columbian-born Alejandro (Benicio del Toro): a man with a tragic past that directly guides his future. To tell more would spoil what is a dense and complex storyline that evolves in a most satisfactory manner.

The acting is superb, with Blunt giving a career-best performance (sadly overlooked by the major awards), Josh Brolin being convincing as the war-weathered CIA man and Benicio del Toro delivering his best stone cold killer in gripping style. His Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination is well deserved, albeit for the maintenance of a fairly standard and chilling expression. Finally a name to watch for the future is London-born Daniel Kaluuya as Macer's black FBI colleague frustrated at being sidelined as a 'spare' by the task force.

Equally praiseworthy is the epic cinematography of Roger Deakin ("Skyfall", "No Country for Old Men") which is also Oscar nominated. Remarkable landscapes of the Mexican border are supported by breathtaking helicopter/drone shots of the CIA convoy of black vehicles in one of the tenser moments in the film. Outstanding (for both direction, editing and cinematography) is a scene set in and around a tunnel that is the best satellite/night vision scene since the 'electronic battlefield' in "Patriot Games" in 1992.

The Oscar-nominated music by Jóhann Jóhannsson (so good with "The Theory of Everything") is of the atonal electronic variety, undoubtedly effective in conveying the film's mood but difficult to compare against the more obvious Oscar nominations from the likes of Ennio Morricone and John Williams.

Directed by Denis Villeneuve (who specialises in single named features) this is a tense, intelligent and thought-providing film that does nothing for Mexico's tourist industry but a lot for Trump's presidential campaign!

Often brutal, this is not an easy film to watch. But it is a highly intelligent watch, requiring your full attention throughout, and is deserving of a place among the best films of 2015. Recommended.

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Fmovies: Hard to find a thriller like Sicario these days , watch it! My thought is that a good Thriller title is the hardest case you can go for as a movie maker .A good thriller has to keep you hooked and in tense for the whole movie ,worst case for most of the movie.Sicario manages to provide the right amount of thrill and action in a way it keeps you interested through all of the time.Sure it had its flaws and sometimes i was a little disappointed with the decision the writers made with this one but when i look at the whole picture its coming up as a very good film , i honestly couldn't stop watching and was a little sad when it was over. I must say though that this movie has a political opinions in it that you cant overlook and it can be a little con for some viewers. Overall , this movie is truly a gem to Hollywood industry right now , very well written and directed plus it has outstanding cast.

Feverishly satisfying with pulse-pounding energy that's sure to give your heart its full day's work, Denis Villenueve's masterful "Sicario" with Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro, and Josh Brolin is an edge of your seat thriller that exemplifies the finest parts of the action genre. Filled with mystery, suspense, and outstanding performances, Villenueve's direction, along a tight script by Taylor Sheridan, brings a much needed sense of technique and art that's been sorely missing from the 2015 movie year.

"Sicario" tells the story of an idealistic FBI agent names Kate (Blunt), who is enlisted by an elected government task force to aid in the escalating war against drugs at the border area between the U.S. and Mexico. With the "guidance" of a mysterious agent Alejandro (Del Toro) and her superior Matt (Brolin), and influx of intrigue and morals will shake Kate to her very core.

First and foremost, "Sicario" breathes new life into contemporary cinematography, as produced by no less than the great Roger Deakins. A vessel for God's eye on the world, Deakins ignites the fire of his vision, capturing some of the finest shots seen this decade. His use of shadows, CGI, and choices in which to convey and portray emotions is downright genius. Becoming essentially another character in the story, Deakins gives a master's class on cinematography for future craftsmen and women to behold. It's a work that will surely land him his thirteenth Oscar nomination.

Above that, we are treated to fantastic and awards worthy performances. Emily Blunt, as seen in nearly everything she touches, shows herself as one of the most interesting and endearing actresses working today. Her courage and vulnerability for Kate is personified by Blunt's ability to connect with the character's soul. She lays into Kate calmly, echoing great performances like Jessica Chastain in "Zero Dark Thirty" but with more reserve.

Benicio Del Toro is downright magnificent. As Alejandro, he delivers his best performance since "21 Grams." A dedicated sensation that calls back to all types of performances such as Javier Bardem in "No Country for Old Men" or Gene Hackman in "The French Connection." You won't be able to take your eyes off him. Josh Brolin utilizes every ounce of his charm that has made him one of the most sought after actor's in the business. A memorable, though understated and undervalued character that you do want more clarity about. Other cast members like Jon Bernthal, Jeffrey Donovan, Victor Garber, and especially Daniel Kaluuya are given their fair share of opportunity, which all take well.

As a technical endeavor, "Sicario" also succeeds in its vibrantly living sound design, and illustrious score by Academy Award nominee Jóhann Jóhannsson. The two are married in a blistering union of tension and heart palpitations. Editor Joe Walker is a shining star behind the scenes as well, thanks to his precision and patience in bringing a scene right to the edge, and knowing when and where to take it next. It's his most innovative work yet, even surpassing his nominated work on "12 Years a Slave."

Goes without saying that "Sicario" is Denis Villenueve's best work to date. Coming from someone that thoroughly enjoyed "Prisoners" and tolerated "Enemy," this is his most accessible and compelling piece. If anything, he's just so damn exciting to wa

Sicario fmovies. This is like the stuff you see on hour long serialized Television like Netflix's Narcos, but instead this police like drama is done in a two hour movie instead of thirteenth episodes.

Emily Blunt was amazing in her character, a good FBI agent who feels she's not doing enough on the streets and allows herself to get used by someone with more power, played by Josh Brolin brilliantly as a man who seems uncharismatic about his job in order to hide the covert nature of his mission to find the big man responsible for all the street crime.

Brolin played a necessary evil, that comes off brilliantly in the narrative that plays out. Loved how they go from the bottom and get to the very top. It's very surgical.

But the actor who stole the show in Sicario is Benicio del Toro whose character Alejandro, is a cloud of mystery that unravels slowly through the film, done both subtle and dramatic by Del Toro. Every time he was on the screen even when he did nothing he was doing something and you he demanded your attention.

Plus the music and sound combo of the movie added to the tension. it was powerful.

Incredible action-thriller.

The wait is over. Since the trailer came out, I watched it several times a week. That's how hyped up I was. I finally got to watch Sicario, Denis Villeneuve's latest film. It got a very positive reception at the Cannes festival, and got tons of praise from movie critics worldwide.

My very first recommendation to anyone interested in watching this film is to not watch the trailer, or don't watch it repeatedly like I did. Although it's incredibly exciting, it gives way too much away. Sicario basically consists of approximately 6-7 set-pieces. The trailer shows key moments from all the set-pieces, and leaves you knowing almost just as much about the story as you'll get to know watching the actual film.

Sicario features a pretty thin storyline, but to its defence, it's all part of a tactical approach at keeping things blurry, shady, and mysterious to the audience. Metaphorically, these mechanisms serve the story pretty well, as we watch official government agencies use unorthodox methods and people in this bloody war against the cartels, and the intent is to offer a glimpse at an ongoing situation and let the viewer's imagination fill in the blanks.

That came off as a bit of an odd artistic choice to me, as, in recent years, several films and TV shows have thoroughly explored all the horrors resulting from the war against drugs at the border area between the U.S. and Mexico. It's not exactly a brand new subject matter to worldwide audiences. My point, basically, is that it's an odd timing to choose such a broad approach to a subject that has become familiar to the masses. When my imagination had to fill in the blanks, it basically did it with memories of other films and TV shows exploiting the very same subject matter, and that dug deeper into it.

All the technical aspects of Sicario are off the charts. Denis Villeneuve's directing is spectacular. The sequence with the convoy of SUVs in Juarez has to rank among the most beautifully shot scenes that we have seen in a while, with a combination of breath-taking shots of Mexican landscapes, Juarez and its streets, incredible tension building up inside the vehicles, and how the different characters handle it. Roger Deakin's cinematography is flawless, as expected. Whether portraying a dry, sunny afternoon in Arizona or a nightly tactical operation with agents wearing night vision goggles, Deakins' contribution shines in every possible way. The same can be said about the soundtrack and the editing.

One thing that truly surprised me is how Sicario makes its point. It is intended to leave you with an overall impression on a global situation (the border war, the cartels, the way government agencies operate, etc.), and the actual story and characters become purposely subsidiary in that depiction of a broader picture. This is just another day in this war, just another set of dirty tactics, just another escalation of violence, just another dozen of people among thousands doing shady things in this mess of a war on drugs.

And if there is one flaw to this film, that's where it lies, in my humble opinion. Characters and storyline are fundamentals. Without saying that these two aspects were neglected, I feel like this is where Villeneuve's film could have reached that next level, but unfortunately didn't, by keeping everything so vague, and so volatile.

I'm not going to sugar coat it: Emily Blunt's character is one-dimensional. Her performance is good, but the character has

More visceral than Steven Soderbergh's "Traffic." SICARIO is about the cost to pay in a drug war and its merciless brutality. Masterfully shot, perfectly acted. This is a film that doesn't allow you to feel comfortable. With each passing moment, it crawls its way deeper and deeper into this world where death is its only end game.

Director Denis Villenuve reteams with master cinematographer Roger Deakins to take advantage of the desert, the weather, the landscape, the terrain, and use them as silent supporting characters that also serve to express the characters' inner demons. Deakins is a multiple Oscar-nominated DP that gets better with every work and in SICARIO, you will see that he once again experiments with even richer and newer ways of shooting, whether it's the night vision first person view or the angles to capture the intensity at the border, moments before weapons are drawn, it's like enrolling in another classroom taught by Deakins but with extra curriculums to learn. The man just knows how to leave his competition behind.

To me, what I think is impressive about Emily Blunt is that she is beauty and strength all in one. She can express torment and conflicted soul so effortlessly, she plays this FBI agent, Kate Macer who does things by the book, she always holds herself and others accountable for every detail, so when she volunteers to be a part of a black ops that practically throws the book out the window, her idealistic views are put to the test. And I think Emily Blunt does a nice job of executing that. It's somewhat of a fish out of water story where Blunt's Kate Macer knows she's being used but she wants to know what she's being used for. Oscar winner, Benicio Del Toro has walked through this territory before in Steven Soderbergh's "Traffic" where he played a Tijuana police officer. In SICARIO, he plays a mysterious character, Alejandro, he's skilled, a man of a few words, soft spoken, but highly intense and has a sharp instinct. What has always been brilliant about Del Toro, in all of his works including SICARIO, is that he can say much without actually saying much at all. In the case of his character, Alejandro, there's a certain dark pain that's magnetic about him. It's all in the eyes. Oscar nominee Josh Brolin plays the leader of the team, Matt Graver, he talks way too damn much but that is also a part of his game, his game of manipulating others.

I've never been to Juarez, I've heard horrible stories about that place, and SICARIO, though it wasn't exactly filmed in Juarez, does manage to put the fear of God in audiences' heart by showing Juarez for what it is, there's no sugar coating, there's no hiding that it's one of the murder capitals of the world. It's a deeply harrowing part that will stay with you long after you've done watching the film which in and of itself wrestles with questions of morality.SICARIO means 'hit-man,' you'll come to wonder which of those three lead characters is the actual hit-man but ultimately, what SICARIO gives you is this dilemma,... if somebody could finally solve the drug cartel and drug kingpin problems for the rest of us, would you really care that they did it by killing instead of bringing the perp to justice?