A Movie Review: Sicario

Sicario. For me, this movie appeared to be going nowhere interesting. I was thinking, "Is this just going to be a move where they catch the drug lord? Whatever. In the end, after the end credits, we know that someone else is just going to take the person's place."  Yet, the movie leaves you on the edge of your seat, because like the FBI agents Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) and Reggie Wayne (Dnaiel Kaluuya) you know that something just doesn't feel right. I was just waiting for the payoff, but thinking there might not be one, but when the payoff happens I was very pleased.

Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) is an FBI agent tasked to deal with drug violence in the Southwest. The film opens with her leading an FBI team into a house associated with the drug cartel. They find a most gruesome scene. Soon after she is approached by Matt Graver (Josh Brolin). Matt Graver won't tell her what specific government agency he works for, but asks if she is ready to do more than just finding the lower rung of the drug cartel. His goal is to go after the top brass.

She joins, but is put in the role of observation. This doesn't sit well with her, especially when dealing with the shadowy Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro).

This is a tightly written and edited film that deals with something that I say goes beyond the gray areas of life. To me, the major question here is: is doing the unethical somethings the ethical thing to do. Right now, in real life, we perhaps see this theory playing out in Syria.

What did I not like about this movie: the only thing I can think of is that they are searching for a specific clue -- let's keep it generic -- and they discover this clue with relative speed by just questioning some folks. If something like that is so easy to discover, why doesn't the FBI, DEA or whatever just do this on a regular basis. Other than that quibble, I say this movie is brilliant.