Sicario

An intense procedural that pulls out the best possible concentrate from all the ingredients. It draws you into the movie theater with audiovisual fire, and, with the passing of a few days, lets the juicy thought processes ripen, ingeniously hiding behind a terse story about the clash between a young idealist and the worn-out warriors against drugs; you rarely see absolutely great filmmaking like this so laced together. I'd start shoveling over the shiny statuettes right now. (04/11/2015)

The reviews here criticizing Emily Blunt's character are stupid and stem from a misunderstanding of the film's concept. By choosing a fragile woman as the centre of the narrative, as a kind of wide-eyed and out of place Alice in Wonderland, Villeneuve makes the viewers themselves grope and question. Emily is a beautiful contrast to the rough world of tough men who shoot from the hip, and the final denouement is an emotional blast, giving the preceding events meaning and significance. In real life, you’ll probably end up like my friend who commented at the beginning "It's a bit confusing", and then at the end apologetically said "Okay, Villeneuve, you played me like a cat with a mouse." The kind of authenticity and rawness that Sicario presents is something that 99% of film production can only dream of. And one thing is certain, charisma has an identical twin, and his name is Benicio del Toro. (20/12/2015)

Sicario might be the work of pure genius. Somehow, I couldn’t find better words to describe it after I saw it. It comes up with a very brutal idea, which at the same time isn’t too original, either. The source of genius for this movie are the actors, for whom I have nothing but words of praise. Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin put in absolutely top-level acting performances that made you embrace ad reject every new moment in their lives the way they themselves embraced and rejected it. Another great asset of the movie is Denis Villeneuve’s direction, which turns what at first sight seems like a classical gangster movie into a whole lot more. All that was clear to me already in the opening action scene, which is incredibly raw and which at that point could find no match in similar movies. And obviously I can’t fail to mention the music of Jóhann Jóhansson, who is the man who took this movie to perfection with his unpleasant sounds, which made this movie as tense as a wire stretched across the road. I must admit that I haven’t felt so depressed before the start of an action scene as I did in this flick for a long time. All that proves that this movie stands on the genius of the authors themselves and I hereby tip my proverbial hat off to them. (17/11/2015)

Villeneuve at the top of his game. A brilliantly directed thriller one-time watch that will drive your colon into your brain through its brutally slow pace and Jóhann Jóhannsson's post-apo thunder. The ruthless trepanation of the skulls, which resembles through its ultra-dark vibe the prose of Cormac McCarthy, but otherwise is completely without claim to philosophical overlap. A bloody history from the frontier that documents that the second art Quebec surrealist has matured into one of the best mainstream directors. Casting a woman in the title role of this raw slab of meat is a brilliant move that completes the entire championship piece. When I compare the "mainstream films" this year in terms of price / performance / experience, Sicario wins. [90%] (12/10/2015)

Excellently written, excellently acted. Roger Deakins’ fantastic camerawork combined with Villeneuve’s precise direction is slowly but surely catching up with David Fincher. In combination with Jóhansson’s unmusical music it paints a crushing atmosphere. Action sparse, but effective. A rich drama that breaks the rules and mixes the cards. The harsh ending comes from real life. Yeah, yeah. (29/10/2015)