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 

Fury

For F*** Magazine

FURY

Director : David Ayer

Cast : Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Jon Bernthal, Michael Peña, Xavier Samuel, Jason Isaacs, Scott Eastwood

Genre : War/Action

Opens : 22 October 2014

Rating : NC-16 (Violence and Coarse Language)

Run time: 134 mins

The 2^nd Armoured Division was hell on wheels to any Nazis who found themselves in their path. This film, set in April 1945 as the Second World War draws to a close, tells of the fictional five-man crew of a M4A3 Sherman tank christened “Fury”. US Army Staff Sgt. Don “Wardaddy” Collier (Pitt) leads the crew, consisting of Boyd “Bible” Swan (LaBeouf), Grady “Coon-Ass” Travis (Bernthal), Trini “Gordo” Garcia (Peña) and rookie Norman “Cobb” Ellison (Lerman). A typist clerk who’s never been on the battlefield, Norman struggles to confront the horrors of war head-on as he repeatedly clashes with the men who occupy the Fury with him. Facing off against the better-equipped Nazis, the crew of the Fury must make a heroic last stand behind enemy lines.

            Writer-director David Ayer’s films have not been particularly pleasant, from gritty cop thrillers like Street Kings and End of Watch to the nasty Schwarzenegger-starring Sabotage earlier this year. War is never pleasant and Ayer brings a good deal of nastiness to the proceedings. Fury’s depiction of World War II is unflinching in its violence and brutality, containing many shocking moments of heads – belonging to soldiers and civilians alike – being blasted open. On one hand, this graphic approach adds to the film’s believability and makes it clear to the audience that Ayer is not interested in presenting a sanitized, romanticised view of this period of history. On the other, it often feels exploitative, that Ayer is revelling in this carnage and that the “war is hell” message is secondary to bullet hits and blood splatter.

            “Ideals are peaceful. History is violent,” Pitt’s Wardaddy says pithily. Ayer has achieved a grimy, bloody realism befitting the historical but at the same time, it can’t help but feel like a wholly cynical affair. In this day and age, Americans and others around the world have grown jaded with and tired of war. Ayer’s take on the Second World War is bereft of nostalgia or sentimentality, but this works against it. Some audiences might squirm at the film’s depiction of “the greatest generation” taking sadistic glee in slaughtering German troops; others might just cheer along. There are attempts in Fury to tackle ethical quandaries and questions of faith but these moments are presented with far less conviction than those involving flying body parts.

            Even though the soldiers manning the Fury are far from likeable, the performances are solid, with Brad Pitt leading the charge. Wardaddy, as his nickname suggests, is a father to his men, but he also has a cruel streak and isn’t about to mollycoddle anyone. Pitt is sufficiently believable, apart from his constantly perfectly-coiffed hairdo. Bernthal’s Grady is the resident jerk of the crew and he does get on the nerves, though that’s how the part was written. Shia LaBeouf is surprisingly less annoying than this reviewer expected and his scripture-quoting Boyd “Bible” Swan, dedicated to his faith while raking up the body count, is not quite the caricature he should’ve been. Logan Lerman, sometimes characterised as a handsome but boring young actor, is the standout of the cast for this reviewer. Yes, Norman is the audience surrogate character, the fresh-faced new kid yet to be tainted by the horrors of war – we’ve all seen that one before. However, Lerman’s conviction in the part, combined with how out of place he looks in that environment, gives the film its few moments of genuine heart-rending emotion amidst the barrage of gunfire and exploding grenades.

            Perhaps we’re wrong – perhaps we should be glad that a World War II film pulls no punches and isn’t naïvely jingoistic. But it is too much to ask for a film of this genre to highlight nobility and honour, bring a little of the best of humanity to the forefront, feel respectful? There have been several masterfully-made war films which are violent and bloody but also showcase the dignity and heroism of their subjects – Saving Private Ryan comes to mind. Unfortunately, David Ayer seems to have too much fun blowing bodies to bits to present a sombre, well thought-out historical portrait.

Summary: Those looking for bloody, brutal WWII violence will be satisfied; those looking for respect and dignity to balance that out will not.

RATING: 2.5 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong 

The Wolf of Wall Street

For F*** Magazine

THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast:        Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Matthew McConaughey, Jean Dujardin, Jon Favreau, Kyle Chandler, Rob Reiner, Margot Robbie, Jake Hoffman, Shea Whigham, Jon Bernthal, Ethan Suplee, Kenneth Choi, P.J. Byrne, Christine Ebersole
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Run Time: 175 mins
Opens: 9 January 2014
Rating: R21 (Coarse Language, Sexual Scenes And Drug Use)

We all know the catchphrase popularised by Michael Douglas’ Machiavellein stockbroker character in 1987’s Wall Street, so say it with us: 1, 2, 3: “greed, for lack of a better word, is good”. Part of the controversy surrounding The Wolf of Wall Street is that the film not only makes greed look good, it makes it look like immense amounts of fun. Based on former stockbroker and convicted fraudster Jordan Belfort’s memoir of the same name, The Wolf of Wall Street takes viewers on a rocket ship ride into the stratosphere – but the interesting part is when the engines cut out and the vessel plummets down to the ground.

It is 1987 and Jordan Belfort (DiCaprio) becomes a Wall Street stockbroker, his boss Mark Hanna (McConaughey) teaching him that drugs and prostitutes are the only things that will keep him going. Belfort falls victim to the Black Monday crash, losing his position at the prestigious firm L.F. Rothschild. His wife Teresa (Milioti) finds him a job dealing in penny stocks in a dingy boiler room and being the gifted pitchman he is, Belfort soon earns a fortune. He befriends his neighbour Donnie Azoff (Hill) and they gather a band of misfits to found the Stratton Oakmont firm, which attracts the attention of the likes of Forbes magazine who dubs him “the Wolf of Wall Street”. It also attracts the attention of FBI agent Patrick Denham (Chandler). Belfort continues his extravagant existence, taking on blonde trophy wife Naomi (Robbie) as he dumps Teresa and getting addicted to cocaine and Quaaludes. As he must, the man who has everything realises it’s all slipping through his fingers. He does, right?

The wolf that Jordan Belfort (as depicted in the film) most resembles is the “insanity wolf” internet meme, the one all crazy-eyed, baring its fangs and favouring mutilation and immolation as solutions to all problems. Belfort is a wolf in wolf’s clothing: he’s already a wolf, but he’ll skin another wolf and wear the skin to prove how hard-core he is. Martin Scorsese has created what is essentially Contact High: the Movie, a film that is a wildly unmatchable thrill ride that also has something to say. The person this reviewer saw the film with described it as being the cinematic equivalent of getting drunk – complete with the hangover afterwards.

It is inevitable that a film of this sort will get called out for supposedly glorifying its subject. After all, this won’t be the first zeitgeist-y button-pusher of a movie to get misunderstood: how many guys went “hey dude, Tyler Durden’s so cool, I wanna be just like him”, “Patrick Bateman is the greatest!” or “that Travis Bickle has got it all figured out!”? This reviewer would argue that because The Wolf of Wall Street pulls no punches in its depiction of the sybaritic excesses Jordan Belfort wallows in, it doesn’t feel sanctimonious when the message of “the bigger they are, the harder they fall” eventually kicks in. There are times in the film when Belfort comes off as utterly pathetic, a noteworthy one being a scene in which he is almost paralyzed by a drug overdose and makes an agonising crawl out the door, down the stairs and to his car – it’s an inspired moment of physical tragicomedy which is almost Three Stooges-esque.

Between this and The Great Gatsby, Leonardo DiCaprio sure was partying it up in 2013. While both Jay Gatsby and Jordan Belfort are immensely wealthy, relatively young men who harbour a certain hollowness deep within, there’s no question that Belfort is more openly a maniac and boy, does Leo have the time of his life with this part. Yes, there are the lines and lines of coke, the gratuitous, wanton lovemaking, the white Ferrari “like Don Johnson’s in Miami Vice” and the pet chimpanzee.  But of course there’s the wounded, directionless, broken little boy at the very centre of it all who is drowning in the waves just like his luxury yacht caught in a storm - and you can bet that DiCaprio nails that in his portrayal of the character. Look out for a cameo from the real Belfort as the host of a seminar at the end of the film. Unfortunately for Leo, it seems Chiwetel Ejiofor is still the prime awards favourite at this point.

This being a Scorsese picture, it’s a given that the supporting cast comes out guns a-blazin’. Young Aussie actress Margot Robbie goes all Real Housewives, complete with a Brooklyn accent and a coiffed hairsprayed ‘do and pumps up the sex appeal yet manages to make Naomi more than a mere object in a turn reminiscent of Daryl Hannah’s in the afore-mentioned Wall Street. Who would’ve thought Jonah Hill, more Apatow’s type than Scorsese’s, would end up an Oscar nominee for Moneyball and star alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in this film? His turn as a panting, sycophantic lackey is comedy gold and it is to Hill’s credit that he’s also able to bring the sadness and shame in the part to the surface. Kyle Chandler’s FBI agent character is described as a “boy scout” and the strait-laced authority figure is a glimmer of order in the chaos that swirls around Jordan Belfort. Matthew McConaughey is in this for really just about two scenes, but he makes an impact as the guy who inducts Belfort into the wolves’ den. Jean Dujardin is also a hoot as a suave Swiss banker and money launderer.

The Wolf of Wall Street distinguishes itself from the awards contender pack by completely shedding any self-seriousness and being in-your-face irreverent. Scorsese pulls off that rare, glorious feat by crafting a film that’s wild and looks fast and loose, yet he knows where all the pieces are on the board every step of the way and juggles all those plates with impeccable precision. Sure, at 180 minutes, this is a long movie – but the time does zip by and then again, it fits the theme of excess (even though a good 20 minutes could have been cut without major consequence). It all adds up to an intriguing effect of subtly wearing the audience down after sending them corkscrewing into europhia, which seems to be exactly what Scorsese and company intended.

SUMMARY: While some might find it too rich for their blood, The Wolf of Wall Street is raucously funny, showcases Leonardo DiCaprio at his best and is entertaining without being inconsequential. This Wolf is on a bull run.

RATING: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong

Snitch

For F*** Magazine

SNITCH

Director: Ric Roman Waugh
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Jon Bernthal, Barry Pepper, Susan Sarandon
Genre: Action, Adventure
Run Time: 112 mins
Opens: 14 March 2013
Rating: NC16 (Some Drug Use)

We’ve heard it a million times: “kids, say no to drugs”. We’ve heard it from Sonic the Hedgehog, Pee Wee Herman, Batman and every pop culture figure in between. Now, hear it from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Whatever he’s cooking, you can be sure it isn’t meth.

Johnson plays John Matthews, the owner of a construction company whose estranged son Jason (Rafi Gavron) is facing a minimum of 10 years in prison for distribution of drugs. John has a new wife and a young daughter, but the incident makes him feel responsible for his lack of involvement in his son’s life. John appeals to Attorney Joanne Keeghan (Sarandon), running for Congress on an anti-drug platform, to help his son’s case. He learns that the only way the sentence can be reduced is if he can snitch on a drug-dealer and help the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) make an arrest – hence the title.



John enlists the help of one his employees, ex-convict Daniel James (Bernthal), to set him up with a dealer and infiltrate a drug ring. Daniel is understandably reluctant as is he drawn back into the world he tried so hard to escape. DEA Agent Cooper (Pepper) heads a task force to supervise John’s actions undercover, and soon John and Daniel find themselves in way over both their heads, and John is put the test as he jumps through hoops to help get his son free.

Snitch purports itself to be based on a true story, and the premise draws inspiration from revisions to the Federal Drug Policy of the US that rewarded those who would rat out their accomplices. What’s interesting is that this isn’t an anti-drug spiel, but rather a look at the impact US drug laws have on the hoi polloi, particularly first-time offenders who aren’t even hardened criminals or traffickers but get severe sentences nonetheless.

It’s a movie that does feel very noble in its ambitions and strives for an air of social responsibility, but audiences don’t go to the movies to be lectured. It’s marketed as an action film, but it doesn’t satisfy in that regard until the climactic semi-truck chase. Snitch is heavy on the drama, and it is a good thing that we get to see how the families of John and Daniel are impacted by the events of the film, but it often borders on the maudlin. It’s also not exciting escapism, when it may well have been better off as such.



The film rides on Dwayne Johnson’s broad shoulders, and it’s a good thing that he’s up to the task. Taking on this film seems like a wise career choice: it’s a way for the wrestler to earn more “serious acting” stripes, while still pulling action hero duty. It turns out that he can play “vulnerable” just as well as “tough” and “determined”. If the Rock is wigged out by the tough cartel guys, than us regular folk had better be as well. It’s not the kind of film that allows him to arch his People’s Eyebrow or flash a toothy grin, but maybe that’s just what he needs.

Jon Bernthal, best known as Shane Walsh on TV’s The Walking Dead, feels like more of an everyman than Johnson does and is not bad as his conflicted partner, primarily succeeding in making us feel as much for Daniel as for John. However, it’s Barry Pepper and Susan Sarandon who are the star supporting players. Pepper, sporting a Sons of Anarchy-esque beard, is barely recognisable and completely believable as a DEA Agent who has experienced life undercover embedded in drug cartels, and Sarandon comfortably inhabits her relatively small role as the politician who might be actually be helpful. Benjamin Bratt puts in an appearance as a big bad cartel kingpin, but doesn’t get enough screen time to offer up much more than usual stereotype.

Former stuntman Ric Roman Waugh directs the film competently, but can’t quite find his footing as the movie struggles to reconcile its “socially conscious drama” and “guns blazing action flick” sides. It is admirable that the movie aspires to be more than a run-of-the-mill actioner and it’s great to see Dwayne Johnson flexing his acting muscles in addition to his actual muscles, but it isn’t a fun time at the theatre, nor a particularly thought-provoking one.

SUMMARY: It’s neither a proper drama nor an actual action flick, but Snitch sees Dwayne Johnson come into his own as an actor, and deserves points for attempting to tackle a social issue from a new perspective.

RATING: 3 out of 5 STARS

Jedd Jong