Movie Review: Sicario
Sicario is a slow burn of a movie that will definitely reward its viewers, should you choose to stay invested for the 2-hour runtime. It definitely has some great performances in it that are sure to garner some award nominations, but at the same time I found it to be very slow-paced, despite a few action scenes.
Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) is a FBI agent who works in drug busts, and is chosen for a special task force that will be going to Mexico to track down a drug kingpin. Also on the team is leader Matt Graver (Josh Brolin); the mysterious Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro); and eventually her FBI partner, Reggie (Daniel Kaluuya). What Kate doesn't find out until later is that the team is very unorthodox, and has its own agenda rather than following the law - especially Alejandro, who is on a mission of his own that just happened to align with the team's, partially.
To say any more about the plot would be to spoil it, which is why I've left it intentionally a little vague. Rounding out the cast in supporting roles is Victor Garber, who plays an FBI superior, and Jon Bernthal, who has a small role as a guy that Kate ends up being interested in, but whom has a secret. The performances in this film were phenomenal, especially those of Blunt's (who wields an American accent quite well here), Brolin's, and Del Toro's; I don't think I've ever seen Blunt without much makeup like she was here, except maybe in Edge of Tomorrow, where she also played a soldier.
Yes, see this film. I'm going to be totally honest here and say that I did fall asleep for about twenty minutes during the middle (dark theater + slow movie + lack of sleep lately will do that to you) but I later got the details about what happened in the movie during that time. This film is probably more like a 4/4.5 star movie, to some, but for me it was a 4 star movie with a 1/2 star deducted for its slowness. Another thing I really liked about the film was the use of music - it was almost like foreshadowing throughout - and the way that scenes were set up (cinematography); the director is very good at both of these, and the music let you know when something was about to happen. I'd like to watch this film again when it comes to Blu-ray/DVD, too, because the performances and the ambiance of the film were so good, but it's probably a good thing that that won't be for a while; it needs time to digest, first.
Sicario is in theaters today, October 2nd, and is rated R with a runtime of 122 minutes. 3.5 stars out of 5.
