IN this vigorous actioner, the sere, barren US/Mexican border plays a major role alongside Uncle Sam’s awesome ability to deploy men and materiel in hard-ball contests with people whose infinitely corrupt power comes from supplying the US narcotics market.
Emily Blunt plays FBI agent Kate, trained to use weapons while complying with the full letter of Federal law. Senior Agent Matt has recruited her to join a special team to cross the border and rendition bad guys back to where US courts can deal with them. Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro) whose special skill is ridding his home nation of such miscreants has his own reasons for hating the Mexican kingpin as Matt wants to capture.
Many movies have visited this narrative territory. What sets “Sicario” apart from and ahead of most of those others is how director Denis Villeneuve has staged Taylor Sheridan’s economical, almost-credible, screenplay. The action depends on Blunt’s strong delivery of a very physically-demanding yet vulnerable character. Josh Brolin, fresh from the cold environment of “Everest”, has no problem dealing with the cynical, fully-focused Matt.
I took some satisfaction from the film’s valid application of the panoply of enforcement and intelligence agencies both federal and state that work out modes for melding functions and jurisdictions. As Hungary has recently shown, Donald Trump’s (he’s not in the film) campaign promise to stop illegal immigrants by building a fence between the two countries is feasible, merely impractical. Digging tunnels in that sandy terrain is not difficult.
At all cinemas
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