CAPSULE: Sicario (2015, Denis Villeneuve)

There is an unsettling loss of innocence narrative at the core of Denis Villeneuve's across the border "war on drugs" flick, Sicario. Unsettling, not because of the revelations of morally compromised nature of the United States' involvement in the drug cartel world, but in the twist-drenched nature of its treatment within in the film.

Surely, somewhere amongst the decade and a half's worth investigative reportage since Steven Soderbergh's similarly slanted Traffic, the target audience for this film lost their patriotic blinkers? Surely, Emily Blunt's hard-arse ingénue FBI agent, doesn't wash with them. Surely, Josh Brolin's cavalier complicity isn't news. Surely, Benicio Del Toro's compromised saviour arc isn't the jaw dropper that Villeneuve and screenwriter Taylor Sheridan bargained on.

Then, critical response indicates otherwise.

For me, Sicario’s rather naive dramatic overreach mars could have been an extremely hard hitting take-down of US/Mexican enforcement policy. What’s left in its wake is an extremely good looking (thanks to DOP extraordinaire Roger Deakins), great sounding (nods to composer Jóhann Jóhannsson) and expertly performed procedural. Slick entertainment, for sure, but not the gut-punching exposé it sets out to be.

★★★☆

Trailer: