Sicario (2015), R, ★★★★

Tracking down some hitmen.

There's a system in which the law overcomes everything and they do it or try to do it by-the-books. In a time where "war on drugs" exist in our reality, two little armies or gangs will be as corrupt as ever to liberate themselves in the position to kill each other until one gang or member is left standing. Sicario, the Spanish word meaning "hitman", chronicles a point in time in which the men have been overtaken by the drugs that is invested in the U.S.-Mexican border. This movie is a superb piece of filmmaking with a bleak view of what's going on with the psyche of these people involved in the little "War of Drugs". They are flawed and complicated and it is a great character study on two characters.

Kate Macer (Emily Blunt), an FBI agent, is raiding a house where they suspect that there are hostage in the house of cartel leader, Manuel Diaz (Bernardo P. Sacarino). They move in with a rescue team and burst in through the house with a van. The team finds dozens of men's bodies with bags over their heads, which causes most of the team to feel disgusted. Outside, several officers notice and suspect something by the shed and it is a bomb that goes off, killing a few officers.

After the raid, Kate goes into the situation meeting a shady pair of characters, Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) and Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro), a mysterious agent. Kate is a woman believes in justice, jurisdiction and the law. She believes that she is working for the local government agency but when she thinks she is on her way to El Paso with the team, they end up going to Juarez, Mexico. They are on a crowded parkway and with a team which is led by Steve Forsing (Jeffrey Donovan). Alejandro spots two cars with gang members and as the cops are approaching gang members, the officers nicely tell him to lower his weapon, but then a shootout ensues. Kate tells Matt that they used her as bait and she was not trained for this. All s**t is about to go down.

What or who is Del Toro looking for?

This is a brutal and complex movie of a dark portrait of the life in drug labor that is going on in Mexico. It makes you process about the dangers of what goes in the drug business in which they ship to millions of Americans try snort and inhale the drugs into their system. This movie is a combination of sleek and pulp suspense that will keep you guessing until the very end and a well-acted trio of performances. We are in the point of view of an innocent character who believes in justice and we witness a thrilling and fantastic scene of a tautly choreographed shootout that transcends a routine scene into a well-designed bloody shootout. This is the key scene that turns Kate's life upside down and we are now on a journey down into the abyss of what is going on.

Emily Blunt can do pretty much anything now - she's been on a roll with performances from Looper, Edge of Tomorrow and an underrated performance in a grim version of Into the Woods. This movie brings her into an action role status but her character wants to make a difference. This movie turns a cliche into reality in which there are no morals and ethics going on in another country and she is in the middle of the situation, making her vulnerable. Josh Brolin is great in his role as always. But, it's Benicio Del Toro that stole the movie because you never know what he may bring into his character and what he is up to trying to peel off the layers of his investigation. He springs into the action with some morals on one hand and no morals in another. He's a candidate in my opinion for an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

There's also a minor character who is also involved in the movie that sort of took me out of the picture but when you realize and find out what happened, it makes you understand that there is no compromise in Mexico and you have to improvise even if it leads to your death. That little subplot is sort of the sheer and disturbing outlook of how innocent people do not deserve to die in the hands of people who are in the middle of their own "war on drugs". It made sense in my opinion, otherwise, it would have been a hackneyed side-note that could have been fluff.

Director Denis Villeneuve (who has made Prisoners and Enemy) has elevated a movie that could have been easily cliched and dealt with just Hollywood standards of finding who the perpetrator is and who is involved. However, this movie is an examination in how an unethical and inmoral standard can lead up to a small group's greater good even if it affects innocent people and maybe an innocent country. Drugs are part of a hostile environment. I also credit the cinematographer, Roger Deakins, for shooting some of the best nocturnal and night-vision sequences that has ever captured on film. He needs an Oscar nomination, too. I fundamentally understood the movie from both the political side and the personal side and Villeneuve transcends this movie into a tight and well-organized thriller that will keep you curious and walking out being blown away. It is one of the best movies of the year.

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