Sicario

[Chris L]

I'd been wanting to see Sicario since I saw the strong reviews on Metacritic last year. (It scored an 82.) The game-selling platform Steam, which has begun to carry streaming videos, had a sale on Lionsgate movies over Labor Day weekend ($5 to own, with the catch that you can only stream the films through Steam and project them to the TV using the Steam Link device).

The film is intense, stylish and moody, part horror story, part (believable) conspiracy thriller. It's set mostly around the U.S./Mexico border and the town of Juarez (in Mexico) and Phoenix (in the U.S.), during the period when Juarez was literally run by the drug cartels. (From what I've read, this was primarily from 2007 to 2012.) Emily Blunt is, as usual, wonderful as a clueless Arizona police officer brought on board a CIA/DEA team of operatives, which allows her to serve as a surrogate for the equally clueless audience, as she and the viewer gradually figure out what's really going on with the operation she's volunteered for. Benicio del Toro is also terrific as a former Colombian law enforcement officer brought onto the team for reasons that are initially quite opaque.

With the exception of Blunt's character, there are no clearly good guys or bad guys in the movie, just people with varying degrees of willingness to accept the idea that the ends justify the means. The cinematography, by frequent Coen Brothers collaborator Roger Deakins, is subtly stylish and the score, by Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, is moody and ominous. I enjoyed it quite a bit and will probably watch again. After all, I own it now, for roughly the same price as a rental.