Sicario

⭐10/10

I've had this movie in the back of my mind since Tim reviewed it, and like him, it was a movie I hadn't seen since it came out but one I loved then and was confident I'd love now. I watched this with a group of guys telling them that this is kinda the best movie of this variety, and by that I mean an action/thriller with government special ops and secret missions and whatever. 

I think I was pretty much right. I had a few small quibbles here and there, but otherwise I think this movie is perfect. It's grounded and tight, it's led by performances by some of my favorite actors, the writing is absolutely fantastic, and like all of Villeneuve's movies, there is always something interesting to look at. 

The thing that sets this movie apart is allowing for a truly difficult ethical dilemma. They are trying to find a Mexican drug lord, and Del Toro says "to find him would be like discovering a vaccine -- surely you understand the value of that." The problem is that this movie features American agents stomping all over the law to achieve this, and you follow Emily Blunt as she too grapples with it with us. She also wants justice, but do the ends justify the means? This movie certainly doesn't answer that question and leaves you with a pit in your stomach. When it comes to the drug trade, there are no easy solutions, and I appreciated this exploration, as pessimistic as it can feel. I hate to call all good movies timely, especially ones made in 2015, but it's an interesting exploration in a time when the government has no regard for laws, and we start to better understand why all of our systems were put in place. 

Yeah, brilliant movie. Again, a few issues, such as my feeling that Blunt's character could be a little inconsistent, and also the depection of Juarez seemed a little over-the-top. But overall it's hard to fault a movie that gets to much right, and despite the restrained action, keeps your attention the entire way. Shoutout to Del Toro, I love that guy.