Sicario

God, what a unique and well-shot thriller. Villeneuve understood the assignment perfectly and delivered yet another incredible movie. I could talk about the cinematography and sound design on end for hours, but it's Villeneuve, obviously they are going to be on point. What that man does with the camera is nothing short of magic. Kate is consistently filmed in a shadow, indicating her being "left in the dark" about the case. In frames, characters are placed in different positions regarding their moral stance. I mean, it's typical Villeneuve. The soundtrack was amazing, and it even grabbed an Oscar nomination if I am not mistaken. Action scenes were tense and suspenseful. The night goggles and heat vision scenes were also unique and great. The thing that sets this movie apart from other thrillers is the complexity of the characters and the confusion about who the protagonist is. The movie leads you to believe that this is Kate's story. She is some sort of genius that will help the team solve this case and catch the bad guy. But as the movie progresses, you question her worth. An hour into the movie, she has done absolutely nothing and is pretty much just a burden. Not long after, we find out that the main character is Alejandro, a mysterious character we just assumed was a badass unofficial cop. The moment he shoots Kate, the perspective changes. Suddenly we follow him, and Kate becomes a secondary character. He is a morally gray character that is haunted by his tragic past. We know what he does essentially is wrong, but you can't help but understand him. In the back of your mind, you might even justify what he does in the end. The acting performances were immaculate. Emily Blunt and Josh Brolin were great, no complaints, and both did their job perfectly, but for me, the true star of the cast is Benicio Del Toro. He steals every single scene he is in and makes you trust him instantly. He is great during emotional scenes, when he is mentoring Kate, and he is especially amazing during action scenes. I mean, the last sequence is just breathtaking. How he did not get an Oscar nomination for his role is beyond me. The movie also tackled the gray area of drug dealing, which I think is a bit overused but didn't really ruin anything in the film. The final scene in which Kate decides not to shoot Alejandro was also powerful and a great visual representation of the quote Alejandro told her earlier: "You will not survive here. You are not a wolf, and this is a land of wolves now." Overall it is an amazing movie to watch both just as a high-quality, entertaining, intense thriller and as a film with deeper meaning, complex characters, and beautiful, meaningful camera work. I know this movie has a sequel, but I think without Villeneuve's touch it might not be as memorable as this one. I might still watch it, I want to see Benicio play Alejandro again.