There are some police officers who become cops because they want to protect and to serve. Probably not too many, but there are a few. I’ve never, personally, known a cop like that, but I’ve heard of them. On the news.
And I’ve read about them…
I knew a cop, once…Well, I knew him before he became a cop. We went to school together. A nice guy. We were “sort of” friends. We didn’t hang out, but he was in my Senior English class.
Anyway, he didn’t get along with his dad. His dad slapped his mom around. Never any blood. Never a clenched fist. But there was pushing. And yelling. And slapping.
That’s why he wanted to become a cop. He didn’t tell me that, but I knew.
I ran into him, a few years later, at an Aerosmith concert. We talked. He was working undercover, perusing the floor crowd. I knew immediately that he was a cop. That made me sad. Not his chosen profession. I don’t have anything against cops, per se. They have a job to do. Otherwise…Well, you know…Anarchy.
I was sad because he’d changed.
In Denis Villeneuve’s crime drama, Sicario, we don’t know why Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) became a cop–there is no declaration over beers or reflective pillow talk explaining. There’s just Kate. Unadorned. Steady. Earnest.
She’s not an adrenaline junkie. We know because the first time we see her, we see her scared. Even so she’s the consummate pro. She subdues her fear. She’s under control.
Plus she’s wearing FBI tactical gear. The FBI doesn’t invest in scrubs. Or the mentally unstable.
Her partner, Reggie Wayne (Daniel Kaluuya) is equally earnest. He is protective of Kate even though she out ranks him. He’s not condescending. He’s a friend, nothing more, who worries that Kate’s honesty might hobble her when her cunning matters most.
We are introduced to them when Kate leads a raid on a stash house owned by a wealthy Sonora Cartel lieutenant. There they stumble upon an unexpected cache—about fifty corpses entombed in the walls.
The camera doesn’t linger over the brutality. The violence is realistically hum drum. And horrible.
One body’s head is encased in plastic. Very little can be distinguished about the body. From the clothing, it is most likely male. Medium height. The face is obstructed by a hemorrhage of blood. The pressure of the plastic against bodily fluid and decaying flesh has left a big brown smudge. It has blotted out identity. The camera, reflecting images through Kate’s eyes, returns to this body–one among the many–again…And again.
During the raid, Kate performs with distinction and kills a cartel underling in the line of duty. The stash house it booby-trapped. There is an explosion. A FBI agent’s arm is torn off. He dies. It’s a big story. So big that it attracts the Department of Justice. Various federal big wigs convene and tap Kate to be involved in a multi departmental task force–about fifteen men, she is the only woman– designed to take down the man responsible for the plethora of immigrant corpses on American soil.
The feds don’t want Reggie. Kate does. She won’t go without him. She gets her way.
One of the lead feds is a guy named Matt, an oily character…Yeah, I know. You’re shocked. It helps that he is played by the magnetic Josh Brolin…
Anyway, this Matt guy is obviously CIA. How so? He wears flip flops. Apparently Reggie has seen other oily guys like him in Iraq where he was both soldier and lawyer; guys who brandish badges, the latest “it guns”, and dollar store shower shoes like ironic badges of honor. Matt’s character is a lighthouse beacon flashing Sicaro’s theme:
Here, things are twisted. It has always been this way. It is worse now.
The here is the Sisters International, more commonly know as the El Paso/Juarez border. Matt and his ambiguous Mexican partner, Alejandro (Benicio del Turo), straddle the desert wasteland with steely cool and blatant impunity, escaping into each others country as the situation dictates. They come and go freely but not easily–especially on Mexico’s side. The government is cooperating, it seems, but the Sonora Cartel hierarchy are understandably upset. They arrange an ambush at a check point resulting in a bloody shootout.
The task force survives unscathed, annihilating the sicarios–Spanish for hitmen. They react like the lethal team of special ops that they are. But their ruthless efficiency unnerves Kate and Reggie. Something bigger than dragging a cartel lieutenant to justice is obviously afoot. Reggie wants them to bail out, but Kate keeps stumbling forward as if she is drawn to the mission against her will–as if she must see for herself evidence that they are real.
“You’re spooks,” she yells at Matt and Alejandro. “Watch and learn,” they say.
Along the way she forms an unexpected bond with Alejandro. It’s not romantic. It’s not even particularly friendly, but there is empathy. Though they prefer their own company, both are comfortable in each others presence. There are a few words shared now and then during cigarette breaks.
“Who are you?” she asks him.
“A prosecutor from Mexico,” he tells her.
“Where do you come from?”
“Columbia,” he says.
The fate of the task force hangs by a thread of legality. Kate is that thread. Her participation ensures the CIA’s jurisdiction is legit. She has been carefully chosen: a decorated, decent female agent, the perfect proxy to hide behind–and to sacrifice if need be for the sake of the real mission. Regime change.
Like Columbia two decades before Mexico has become a narco state. The Sonora Cartel has murdered and tortured it’s way to the top. Even so, it’s members of the board have no idea how to govern. They are too ruthless, even by cartel standards, and when they sanction a series of horrific crimes on the American side it incurs the wrath of the US government.
The government sends black ops into Juarez to assassinate the number three Sonora chieftain and make way for a new US sanctioned cartel to take over. And who is the new boss? The same as the old boss, i.e., the Colombians.
The plan is for the Colombians to resume the control they had in the old days, when they supplied the drugs and the Mexicans distributed them into the United States. In those days, Alejandro was a high ranking Mexican official. When the US disrupted the Medellin Cartel it created a vacuum in which the Mexican cartels were able to become both supplier and distributor. But they became too powerful too quickly–and there was too much competition. Consequently Juarez became the epicenter of unspeakable brutality that threatened to spill over into United States. Alejandro’s wife and daughter became pawns in that brutality and though he was able to escape into Columbia they were left behind to a terrible fate.
Now all that stands between Alejandro and revenge is Kate and her earnest resolve to do the right thing no matter the cost. And Kate can afford the cost because she is an island unto herself. How she became that way we do not know, but she shares the isolation with Alejandro. And the hollowness.
Some critics felt Sicario too laden to be a thriller and they were right. It’s not one. Nor is it an action film. Sicario is a crime drama with some high powered, brilliantly choreographed action sequences. The shoot out at the check point thirty minutes in is an exercise in white knuckles and coronary palpitations. Be that as it may, Director Denis Villeneuve is more interested in a twisted psyche than he is with plot twists and explosions.
Sicario seeks to make you think as it haunts you with ghosts made of flesh and memory. Mission accomplished.
I really enjoyed Emily Blunt in this movie, she played her role to perfection
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I agree. Everybody was good in it, but Blunt and del Toro were excellent. Thanks for reading.
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I reviewed this in 2016, Pam.
https://beetleypete.com/2016/11/25/just-been-watching-27/
I was less kind about the film overall, but I thought the cinematography was terrific, and Benicio Del Toro made it for me.
Your review is much better written, and more thoughtful. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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I disagree, Pete. Your review is stellar. Yes, I liked it more, but I neglected to mention the cinematography. It is wonderful, but I was born in El Paso. My dad lived there his entire life. I am jaded to it’s starkness.
Thanks for reading.
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I rather “enjoyed” the film. My favorite scene was when Denis Villeneuve implemented the green binocular night vision. The silhouettes and the caves gave it a creepy vibe. I thought Benicio Del Toro was excellent and Emily Blunt too pretty for the role.
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Yes, the night vision scenes are eerily otherworldly. The green hues radiate infection.
I found Sicario to be an excellent film. It’s very literary.
Everybody talks about del Toro and I agree, he is superb, but for me, it’s Emily Blunt’s film. Her role is very difficult. There is no back story. She creates her character out of thin air. I thought her aesthetic was stripped to the bone.
Thank you for reading and commenting.
–Pam
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Great post 🙂 I love how you open your review with a little background on how you knew somebody, who became a cop. Interesting way to start out a review for a film like Sicario. As for me, I thought the film was very good – the cast, the cinematography, the staging of the action sequences are all tops. Credit should also go to director Denis Villenevue for his direction. So far, Villenevue has directed one great film and that was Blade Runner 2049 from two years ago. But I will watch anything he does regardless. Anyway, keep up the great work as always 🙂
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Thanks, John. I love this film. The cinematography is spectacular. Villenevue is fast becoming one of my favorite directors. I think his films are smart. I enjoy the deliberate pacing and the his emphsis on character. He reminds me of Sidney Lumet. I like how you don’t immediately know that it’s a Lumet film or a Villenevue film, there’s no predictable pattern that either director fits into. Both directors really turn their actors loose . I love that.
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P.S. I also have a few links that might interest you today. First off, a documentary on film director Brian De Palma came out a few years back called De Palma directed by Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow. Here is a link to the trailer in case you are interested:
Also, last fall on Showtime, a comedy/drama series starring Jim Carrey premiered entitled Kidding and you might want to check out cause it looks pretty interesting (I think Netflix has the first season as well) Here are two trailer links below:
Now here is trailer 2 for Kidding
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Thank you John for the recommendations. I will check them out. I hope that Carrey has success with this series. He is very talanted.
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Thanks for the review, Pam. I started to watch this late one night…too late to finish…I need to. It was nothing against the movie…I started too late.
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It’s a good film to watch while you recuperate.
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Pam what a fantastic way to review this film! You writing is off the hook!
That opening scene with the bodies in the walls. Oh my days. and that shoot out on the bridge. I really liked the film but something, something just didn’t click into place for me. I think it was the fact I didn’t really get invested in the characters and I’m sure that’s my thought rather than the film. But I was bowled over by the cinematography and mostly the soundtrack from Iceland’s Jóhann Jóhannsson. Such a shame we’ve lost his talents. Boo.
Different director for Sicario part two! I will watch it one day. Have you seen it yet?
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Thank you Mikey. As you could tell I am all in on Sicario, but, yeah, you’re not alone on the lack of character investment thing. I read some reviews that shared that sentiment. I think Villenevue signed off on making Kate kind of a blank slate. To me it was effective. We are dropping in on this segment of her life and though she’s the lead actor, she’s not the lead character. The border is, But that’s just my opinion. I agree that Johannsson’s soundtrack is amazing. He was a genius. The Mandy soundtrack is through the roof good. I wasn’t as blown away by the cinematography as everyone–but I’m from there, so it’s difficult for me to find the beauty in it. I’m not a desert person and El Paso/Juarez isn’t scenic desert. Anyway, thanks for reading and commenting.
Always a pleasure,
Pam
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“Sicario seeks to make you think as it haunts you with ghosts made of flesh and memory.”
Perfectly, beautifully expressed! I agree!
We enjoyed this movie a lot, for all the reasons as everyone above–Del Toro, Emily Blunt, and for me, Josh Brolin. Interesting that some couldn’t get invested in the characters. I felt pretty invested in them. Even in stone-faced Del Toro. Our feelings are muted and held at bay by the characters’ lack of *sharing*, but it doesn’t seem to matter because their personalities, intentions, and motivations are still there, very muted themselves, but enough. At least for me.
Great review!
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Thank you. I feel the same way, exactly. I like how Villenevue (and, of course, the scriptwriter) doesn’t feel the need to apologize for the characters by giving them backstory. We get del Toro’s motivation and that’s enough. The rest is a mystery. I think that’s profound in and of itself.
I love Josh Brolin. He is gorgeous.
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Pam, I love your opening, a great segue. I haven’t seen this though I have been meaning to since I read a few reviews on it when it first came out. Will have to find it .
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You will like it John. It’s right up your alley. Thanks so much for stopping by. Always a pleasure.
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Love your spin on the film and the personal anecdote to frame your thoughts. This was an unforgettable film, but not one I can rewatch easily as it was so intense. Here are my thoughts from when I saw it in theaters:
https://theschleicherspin.com/2015/10/04/this-is-a-land-of-wolves-now-in-sicario/
I’ve yet to see the sequel.
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Thank you. I enjoyed your post on Sicario as well. The introductory sentence pulled me in. I love historical anecdotes. Dagger men, huh…Fascinating. And your right…That scene were he unsheathes the knife is unnerving. The whole sequence keeps you on the edge of your seat, but that simple, ominous act feels you with queasy dread. Masterful writing.
I haven’t seen the sequel and I probably won’t. The reviews are disappointing. Different director and no Emily Blunt. Plus, Sicario said all that needed to be said.
Nice to hear from you.
–Pam
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I kinda feel the same way about the sequel…I don’t feel compelled to see it, but would watch it if just happened to be on HBO and I had two hours to kill (which is almost never haha).
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This is going to sound awkward but its true…..the horrors you see in Scario is Holltywood compared to the real cartel violence. I think if most Americans ever saw what the groups do to each other and to innocents,they would be down at the border building that damn wall.
That said,del Toro proves once again he is a master of his craft,his revenge actually feels justified despite how horrific it is……a very strong review!!
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It’s definitely a complicated situation. It’s gotten some better in Juarez. I usually make it down to El Paso at least once a year. I was born there.
Thanks for reading Michael.
–Pam
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