Getting well prepared for when 'Sicario' 2 drops so watched the first one again and here's the review!

8.5/10

Sicario is a dramatic thriller about an FBI special task force dedicated to taking out drug lords in Mexico (the title means "hit man" in Spanish).

Aided by Roger Deakins' masterful  cinematography, director Denis Villeneuve delivers an essential movie for recent years: brilliant, bold, and unflinchingly fatalistic, but still exhilarating. Using a great first screenplay by actor Taylor Sheridan, SICARIO places viewers directly in Kate's shoes; the movie spends long minutes simply watching, observing events without explaining them, leaving us completely on the dark. It creates a world of tense uncertainty in which our heroine could be in danger (or safe) at any time given time.

For such a complex movie, Sicario also manages to be strongly visual, underlining physical spaces (open, shadowy, unsafe, tight areas) and frequently noting how small Kate seems compared to her colleagues. It also manages a strong visceral sense of human capabilities and frailties (exhaustion, hunger, etc.), making later scenes even stronger. Given this powerful framework, the actors all deliver exemplary performances, with Del Toro perhaps at the forefront.

All in all great film, cast was exemplary from Daniel Kaluuya, Jon Bernthal to Josh Brolin, Emily Blunt and obviously Del Toro. The cinematography is some of the best I have seen in recent years, plot was good, violence was perfect it was great. 8.5/10

Side note: Oh my Lord seeing Josh Brolin with his chubby belly and small arms. And then looking at what he looks like now (Cable) is brilliant!