#8. Sicario
Denis Villeneuve’s brilliant cartel drama would have ended up on my list coasting on the thrill of its technicals alone. With a score and cinematography this engrossing, ‘Sicario’ could have gotten by with a run of the mill drug-land story. What makes this one of the premiere movies of the year is, one, Emily Blunt’s shellshocked performance and, two, a defeatist ending ending that is not afraid to slam you with some dirty, uncomfortable truths and then leaves you cold. The film set Blunt’s character up as the take-no-crap DEA agent who will stop at nothing to take down the real heavy hitters of the Mexican cartel. Think again. ‘Sicario’ bangs her, and us, around into submission. A slick feminist commentary slid in-between the drug busts? Now that’s classic filmmaking.
Denis Villeneuve’s brilliant cartel drama would have ended up on my list coasting on the thrill of its technicals alone. With a score and cinematography this engrossing, ‘Sicario’ could have gotten by with a run of the mill drug-land story. What makes this one of the premiere movies of the year is, one, Emily Blunt’s shellshocked performance and, two, a defeatist ending ending that is not afraid to slam you with some dirty, uncomfortable truths and then leaves you cold. The film set Blunt’s character up as the take-no-crap DEA agent who will stop at nothing to take down the real heavy hitters of the Mexican cartel. Think again. ‘Sicario’ bangs her, and us, around into submission. A slick feminist commentary slid in-between the drug busts? Now that’s classic filmmaking.