Sicario

23rd September 2015: Leigh: 20:15

I was unsure what to expect going in to watch Sicario, I had seen the trailer and it looked interesting, but if asked what it was about I would give a few words not a synopsis.  Mexico, Cartels, Drugs and Benicio Del Torro.....

Sicario is a slow burning film, Kate (Emily Blunt) is recognised by a shadowy section of the DOD as doing a great job busting low level drug cartel operations and is recruited in an aim to take down the Jefe.  Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Torro head this team that operates outside the jurisdiction Kate is accustomed to.  How far beyond the law must you go to really make a difference?

There are some really tense and thrilling scenes, but they are in between some long, drawn out sequences.  I appreciate that these were intended to build tension and intrigue and some of them did, but at a minute over 2 hours, I felt like there was a lot of filler.  Don't get me wrong, some of the lasting aerial shots over Mexico and the silhouetted tactical team shots were stunning.

One scene near the start during a traffic jam on the way back to America over the Mexico Border is brilliant, and I think this raised the bar to a level that, unfortunately, was not reached again throughout the rest of the film

Benicio Del Torro is excellent as a questionable member of the team, with unknown origins and suspicious activity, he steals the show.

I have mixed feelings about Sicario, stunning, tense, but also slow and plodding in sections. One character arch made me think of Austin Powers with the phone call to henchmen families explaining that they had been killed at work. I questioned why he was in the film as he must have a bigger part to play....and he didn't.