Sicario [Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD]

For one reason or another, Denis Villeneuve's movies always stay with me. I might take a pass on the "Dune" epics, but "Arrival" cemented my admiration for his work. I had seen "Sicario", but did not recall that he had directed it. Seeing it again, I am reminded that it was Benicio del Toro's and Emily Blunt's performances that originally stayed with me. But the fine points of visual storytelling dovetail with what I like so much about Villeneuve's other movies. Emily Blunt is yet another UK native who nails US speech -- you'd never know she is British. A great movie, more timely than ever.

Great action movie ...

Contra one reviewer: there really have been times & places in Mexico where bodies were hung from overpasses on a regular basis. There has been appalling violence in some areas of Mexico: the illegal drug trade should be boycotted by all Americans.*Some minor plot spoilers.*I share in the complaints about the character played by Emily Blunt (who always acts well). The film poses the difficult issue of what does a country do in the face of appalling violence when the legal means simply do not work. She’s a plot device to put forth the *follow the law anyway* argument: but her actions are incoherent. So is there really no coherent way to make the point?The movie starts off with a hostage rescue under her command, but it’s a false alarm: there are no hostages! And yet the entry is made by using a military-type vehicle to knock down a wall! And they all pile out with full military-type gear! And she machine guns down a man (trying to kill her)!It turns out that this militaristic approach was fully justified, so why is she then so freaked out when a convoy transporting a major drug kingpin was attacked by 8 gang-bangers—some with automatic weapons—and those transporting the prisoner defended themselves? Self defense is not “illegal”, and had they not acted quickly many innocent civilians would have been killed by stray bullets. And why did she then protest that she was not a “soldier” when she acted exactly like one just a few days before?If she is so “by the book” why did she regularly disobey orders? If she is so opposed to action in Mexico, why does she go into Mexico and point her gun at her own team member and give him orders? What was her authority to do so—going by her own theory?Her character does illustrate one important point: if you don’t know a man well enough to know that he’s working for a cartel, and intends to kill you, don’t decide to have casual sex with him. Casual sex is irrational.

Who is Emily Blunt that she gets to wreck a really interesting movie? Briefly, the premise of Sicario is that our war on drugs now involves secret incursions into Mexico to kidnap and assassinate cartel leaders and in general create chaos in their operations. These ops are conducted by the CIA but at arms-length using third party contractors, and the twist is that the CIA is not legally allowed to operate within the U.S. unless by association with an American agency, in this case, the F.B.I. which is represented in the film by agents Emily Blunt and one unmemorable black guy who is not credible as a lawyer and is only there for exposition purposes, and to drive the car. Maybe Blunt can't drive?On to the good stuff. Josh Brolin and Benicio del Toro play the world-weary middle-aged "operators" who run the mission, flying out of Air Force bases on private jets and having all kinds of access to drones and computer geeks and guys in suits who give them whatever they want. They are both really good (with the warning that you really don't want to see Josh Brolin with his shirt off. Just trust me) which is surprising because I have never taken Brolin seriously in anything. Can you say lightweight? But here he is perfect as the friendly spook who keeps nominal peace between the FBI and the spooks. BDelT (I wanted to call him BLT, but I won't) is the dark and stormy heavyweight who wears his gravitas like a a comfortable sweat suit. The film is worth seeing just for him.The plot twists are good. The intention (in my opinion) is to present both sides of the moral argument that either America should follow it's own laws no matter what (as represented by Blunt and her partner) or, the war on drugs is so serious and we are losing it so badly that we are justified in doing whatever is necessary, and I mean WHATEVER, screw the subpoenas. Blunt gets "used" by the big boys in lots of ways, and it is all supposed to be for the greater good. This is good film making. Villeneuve (a Canadian, ironically, whose previous work "Butt" about smuggling cigarettes across an Indian reservation on the Quebec/American border is a Canadian classic) does a great job both visually and narratively. The story is presented pretty even-handedly, except Blunt has so little credibility in her job, it wrecks your concentration to follow the plot. She's like Matt Damon in an action movie - you just go "huh?" Message to Hollywood: Emily Blunt is NOT Mrs. Peel. She is NOT Diana Rigg. (like anyone is). Don't go there ever again. Maybe she can do other stuff, but not this. She is scrawnier than a chewed up chicken wing, not convincing as smart, strange looking and all her character does is act indignant and morally superior to the dregs of the CIA around her. I thought the blonde in the last year of 24 (the London ones) was bad. She is freaking Shakespeare compared to Emily Blunt.If this was an average movie I wouldn't make such a big deal about it, but it had the potential for greatness and she pretty much wrecks that. Still worth watching so you can make up your own mind, espesh for del Toro. The moral issues about the drug war are really well laid out, especially with an election looming.Finally, no one who watches this movie will ever go to Mexico on vacation. Ever. And finally, finally, the last shot really blows it. Kids playing soccer in a field in Juarez. Fake because they react to distant gunfire. In real life, they wouldn't even notice. Ever been to Juarez? I have. It's a two diaper town, for sure.