Sicario (2015)
Directed by Denis Villeneuve
An idealistic FBI agent is enlisted by a government task force to aid in the escalating war against drugs at the border area between the U.S. and Mexico.
38 connections found
View:
38 films that influenced Sicario
What critics say influenced Sicario
The film, whose initial trailers made it look like Traffic Redux thanks to the war-on-drugs subject matter and the casting of Benicio Del Toro, has already been compared to Zero Dark Thirty , and it’s easy to see why: It takes on a seemingly unwinnable policy war, it delves into the fuzzy legalities of fighting said war, it places a tough woman at its center, and it concludes with an extended raid sequence (even borrowing the earlier picture’s copious infrared and night vision photography).
Psychologically, by situating an idealistic heroine at the heart of a militarized manhunt and forcing her to confront its sordid ethical realities, Sicario clearly aims to be the Mexican drug war’s Zero Dark Thirty (also on a visual level Villeneuve borrows a lot from Kathryn Bigelow’s film, for example a lengthy night-time ambush rendered in night-vision).
But Sicario emerges, less typical G-man thriller than something akin to Michael Mann's Heat or a Zero Dark Thirty substituting the War on Terror for the War on Drugs.
In a terrific performance that recalls the steely ferocity of Jodie Foster in “The Silence of the Lambs” and Jessica Chastain in “Zero Dark Thirty,” Emily Blunt stars here as Kate Macer, an FBI field agent who has been forced to don a Teflon exterior in order to rise through the Bureau’s male-dominated ranks, and to cope with the depravity she frequently witnesses in the line of duty.
The movie sometimes feels like "Zero Dark Thirty" and has a title (which in Jerusalem refers to a person hunting Roman invaders and means "hit man" in Mexico) that sounds like "Syriana," but "Sicario" is simpler than both of those—thankfully, to an extent, as how many people can actually explain all of "Syriana"?
To compare to Sicario to Heat or Zero Dark Thirty or even, for one or two brief flashes, Apocalypse Now , is not out of line.
The scene sets the tone for the rest of the film, which will be as akin to that of a horror movie — sleek and elegant horror à la The Silence of the Lambs , not a slasher flick — as it is to that of a war movie.
In a terrific performance that recalls the steely ferocity of Jodie Foster in “The Silence of the Lambs” and Jessica Chastain in “Zero Dark Thirty,” Emily Blunt stars here as Kate Macer, an FBI field agent who has been forced to don a Teflon exterior in order to rise through the Bureau’s male-dominated ranks, and to cope with the depravity she frequently witnesses in the line of duty.
As with Jodie Foster’s FBI agent Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs , Kate is not only working a case that draws her close to evil incarnate, but she's also operating in a man’s world.
Here she shapes her character as something of a modern-day Clarice Starling from "The Silence of the Lambs," an initiate to a world far removed from the one she trained for yet capable of adapting to its unfamiliar ways.
Blunt delivers a strong performance that follows in the footsteps of powerhouse frontline female characters seen in Zero Dark Thirty and The Silence of the Lambs , effectively portraying the sturdy courage of a character who stands her ground against unseen forces on both sides of the law, increasingly becoming an island onto her own as things escalate.
It echoes themes from “Apocalypse Now” and “Full Metal Jacket,” weaving them into a heart-pounding meditation on the madness of war.
To compare to Sicario to Heat or Zero Dark Thirty or even, for one or two brief flashes, Apocalypse Now , is not out of line.
Willard travels up the Mekong River in search of Col. Kurtz in Apocalypse Now.
But Sicario emerges, less typical G-man thriller than something akin to Michael Mann's Heat or a Zero Dark Thirty substituting the War on Terror for the War on Drugs.
Villeneuve, for his part, continues to enhance an already impressive reputation (post Prisoners and Incendies ) by positioning himself alongside the likes of Michael Mann (of Heat/ Miami Vice form) and Martin Scorsese as a master filmmaker.
Advertisement
It is, without doubt, one of the greatest traffic jams ever committed to celluloid, right up there with Fellini’s 8½ and Joel Schumacher’s Falling Down.
Blunt is extraordinary here in a role reminiscent of Gene Hackman’s Popeye Doyle in “The French Connection” — she’s relatable to us, and involved in something far bigger than she suspects.
It is, without doubt, one of the greatest traffic jams ever committed to celluloid, right up there with Fellini’s 8½ and Joel Schumacher’s Falling Down.
The movie sometimes feels like "Zero Dark Thirty" and has a title (which in Jerusalem refers to a person hunting Roman invaders and means "hit man" in Mexico) that sounds like "Syriana," but "Sicario" is simpler than both of those—thankfully, to an extent, as how many people can actually explain all of "Syriana"?
Though the story and the bleak tone recall movies like Zero Dark Thirty , Traffic , and Syriana , the film has a look and feel all its own.
It’s the “Syriana” of drug war movies.
The Sons of Anarchy star has penned a remarkable screenplay worthy of comparisons to the likes of Stephen Gaghan ( Traffic , Syriana ).
Advertisement
It echoes themes from “Apocalypse Now” and “Full Metal Jacket,” weaving them into a heart-pounding meditation on the madness of war.
This is not Casta-Gavras’s 1969 leftist agitprop masterpiece “Z.”