Sicario

For F*** Magazine

SICARIO

Director : Denis Villeneuve

Cast : Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin, Jon Bernthal, Maximiliano Hernandez, Victor Garber

Genre : Crime/Thriller

Run Time : 121 mins

Opens : 17 September 2015

Rating : NC16 (Coarse Language and Violence)

As another presidential election rears its head, U.S.-Mexico border issues are as hot a topic as ever. The so-called “war on drugs” rages on in this thriller. Emily Blunt plays Kate Macer, an FBI agent from Phoenix, Arizona specialising in kidnap response. Kate is selected to join a task force cracking down on drug cartel crime on the border. Department of Justice consultant Matt Graver (Brolin) leads the task force, aided by the enigmatic mercenary Alejandro (Del Toro), a former prosecutor turned efficient hitman.  Kate and her partner Reggie (Daniel Kaluuya) suspect that Matt and Alejandro are not being upfront with them from the start, and Kate soon finds herself dealing with far more than she bargained for as she wades into the murky waters of the escalating conflict on the border. 

'Sicario' is a slang term for 'hitman' used in Mexico. The film is directed by Denis Villeneuve, who helmed the kidnapping drama Prisoners and is attached to the upcoming Blade Runner sequel. Sicario is a straight-ahead thriller and markedly different from his last directorial effort, the mind-bending psychological thriller Enemy. Villeneuve presides over the proceedings with an even hand, crafting an intense, slow-burning film. Favouring disquieting “calm before the store” moments instead of a flashy bursts of action, this detached approach means that the film always feels grounded instead of over the top. However, it also means that it might be difficult for some audiences to truly sink their teeth into the story, since in avoiding heightened spectacle, Sicario is sometimes dull. 

Action movies are a dime a dozen, but interestingly, there has been a dearth of truly serious action-thrillers. Most contemporary Hollywood action flicks have a mere veneer of grimness and may be entertaining but are rarely really about anything. The violence here is uncompromising and ugly, never slick and glossy, with mutilated bodies hanging from bridges in full view. Screenwriter Taylor Sheridan consciously avoids over-simplifying the issues at the heart of Sicario. There is a subplot focusing on everyman Mexican cop Silvio (Maximiliano Hernández) and his family, which attempts to show the toll the war on drugs takes on average folk. Border politics and the nature of this particular conflict are anything but clean-cut and Sicario does a good job of reflecting that the concept of a black and white morality is an antiquated one and old-fashioned good guys just don’t really exist anymore. 

We see this through the eyes of Emily Blunt’s Kate Macer, who goes through the familiar arc of the fresh-faced rookie who has her idealism swiftly eroded when she sees how things actually work. While it isn’t exactly untrodden territory, Blunt is excellent in the role, reminiscent of Jessica Chastain’s performance in Zero Dark Thirty. Kate is not afraid to question authority, though as the story progresses, she starts to see less and less of a point in doing so. Blunt continues to showcase her versatility and there are several moments where Kate is brought to her knees that could have been overwrought in the hands of a lesser actress. 

Josh Brolin is right in his element, slyly entertaining as the lackadaisical Matt Graver. He wears flip-flops into serious meetings and doesn’t quite look to be in the best shape, but when means business, he means business. Benicio Del Toro complements him well, his character methodical and deadly but with a vital unpredictable streak. It seems like Del Toro is contractually obligated to appear in almost every drug trade thriller from Savages to Paradise Lost, but he doesn’t phone it in here. Del Toro brings an intriguing mixture of primal animalistic instinct and an underlying sadness and vulnerability to the part. However, the film does trip up on the age-old storytelling trap of establishing a character as unpredictable and mysterious, so we expect him to do the unexpected and it isn’t so much of a surprise when he does. 

Cinematographer Roger Deakins and composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, who collaborated with Villeneuve on Prisoners, return here. It is not the aerial views of arid desert expanses that have the most impact, but strangely mesmerizing shots of dust particles suspended in the air. Jóhannsson’s dissonant, droning score ups the queasiness provided by alternating thermal imaging and night-vision camera points of view. The twists and turns in the story are not as surprising as they could have been, but Sicario is a tough, riveting thriller featuring on-point performances and helmed by a very promising director. 

Summary: This subdued, grim thriller is almost too restrained but it is well-acted and sufficiently haunting. 

RATING: 3.5 out of 5 Stars 

Jedd Jong 

Paradise Lost

For F*** Magazine

PARADISE LOST

Director : Andrea Di Stefano

Cast : Benicio Del Toro, Josh Hutcherson, Brady Corbet, Claudia Traisac, Ana Girardot, Carlos Bardem

Genre : Romance/Thriller

Run Time : 120 mins

Opens : 2 July 2015

Rating : PG13 (Some Violence)

Benicio Del Toro sure has moved up in the drug underworld, going from playing Bond villain henchman Dario in License To Kill to portraying notorious real-life kingpin Pablo Escobar here. It is 1983 and Canadian surfer Nick Brady (Hutcherson) accompanies his brother Dylan (Corbet) to Colombia, where the duo run a surfing camp. Nick meets and falls in love with Maria (Traisac), who happens to be the niece of local politician and drug lord Pablo Escobar. Escobar appears to take a shine to Nick and is keen to welcome him into his large family, Nick spending increasing amounts of time at Escobar’s luxurious Hacienda Nápoles estate. However, when Nick realises that he’s in over his head and the bodies start piling up, it might be too late for him.

Paradise Lost (also released as Escobar: Paradise Lost) is the writing and directing debut of Italian actor Andrea Di Stefano. Instead of making a straight-up biopic, Di Stefano has chosen to tell a story about the ‘King of Cocaine’ from a different angle. Our way in is the fictional Canadian surfer Nick, played by Hutcherson. Many films have an “audience identification character” whom viewers, unfamiliar with the world being portrayed, can relate to. In Paradise Lost, the fictional audience identification character is the primary focus, with the fascinating real-life figure relegated to a supporting role. This ends up being very frustrating, resulting in the nagging feeling that there’s a more compelling story taking place right around the corner from our protagonist, but we’re stuck with him.

This is not necessarily Hutcherson’s fault – he’s competent in the role and the character’s blandness is more a result of the writing than his performance. The romance between Nick and Maria, arguably the story’s linchpin, gets surprisingly little meaningful development. Their relationship progresses at an almost comically fast pace – they meet and are engaged in what is practically the next scene. There are also many times when Nick’s behaviour goes past ‘naïve’ into ‘just plain stupid’. This is clearly a very dangerous, very powerful man you’re tangling with, what did you think was going to happen?

Del Toro is the ideal candidate to play the larger-than-life drug lord. He has enough gravitas, ‘serious actor’ cred and that vital crazy streak required to pull off the part. The nature of the film is that, even though Del Toro has a good amount of screen time, Escobar is a background figure in his own story, which is something of a shame. He manages to find that balance between charming and menacing and, while it isn’t exactly a subtle performance, he never flies into over-the-top histrionics as a lesser actor well could have. There’s also the physical transformation, with Del Toro packing on the pounds to play the slovenly drug lord.

Paradise Lost is handsomely shot by cinematographer Luis David Sansans and was filmed on location in Panama. Production designer Carlos Conti does a laudable job of re-creating Escobar’s sprawling ranch, the grounds decorated with life-sized statues of dinosaurs because he’s just that wealthy. Unfortunately, this atmosphere of authenticity is often marred by how obviously tacked-on Nick’s story feels, to the point where it becomes an obstacle rather than a way in for the audience. Di Stefano does construct several moments that result in a genuine ‘pit of your stomach’ feeling and there is a sense of mounting dread, but it’s ultimately a pity that, with a subject as rich and fascinating as the notorious Pablo Escobar, Paradise Lost only scratches the surface.

Summary: While it boasts a memorable turn from Benicio Del Toro, Paradise Lost’s gamble of making the main character a fictional one doesn’t pay off.

RATING: 2.5 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong