Sicario (2015)

*** out of ****

I'm still a bit torn about this film. Part of me says it was a gripping international cat-and-mouse game, and another part says it was way too slow but seemed good due to the overpowering strength of a single performance. In either case, Benicio Del Toro rocked the friggin' house in this one.

Emily Blunt is FBI agent Kate Macer, who after losing several agents in a raid on a booby-trapped drug smuggling den is invited to join a CIA task force headed by Matt Graver (Josh Brolin). The task force will be going after a Mexican cartel, the one responsible for the deaths of her agents in the raid. But Macer finds that also acting as a part of the team is Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro), who is not an agent; instead he is working on behalf of the Columbian cartel to help the CIA eliminate their competition. Macer obviously has issues with this, but Graver explains that CIA would rather eliminate one cartel to be able to focus on the other.

Slowly, they set up a major sting on the Mexican group to raid their Mexico/US tunnel at a key point to cripple their importing system, and also set things up for Alejandro to eliminate the head of the cartel. As the movie unfolds it has some slow portions, but once everything is in place and the sting gets underway, the payoff is worth the investment in time to set it all up.

Also intriguing is Jay Bernthal in his small part as a local thug.  I don't think this poor guy is ever going to play a character in his entire career who isn't a dirtbag.

And there is a performance that is simply off the charts.... Benicio Del Toro as Alejandro. Ever since “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” and “The Way of the Gun” over 15 years ago, this guy has always been top notch, but here he takes it to the next level. He is so menacing, so incredibly brutal that he captivates every second he is on the screen. Heartless and without malice of any kind, he might be the scariest, most authentic assassin I've seen on screen in years. Many are making a big deal out of the lack of minority actors nominated for Oscars this year, citing Michael B. Jordan and the three leads in “Straight Outta Compton”, but if the Academy missed one performance that should have been considered, it was this one. He is outstanding.

Overall the film is solid if sometimes slow-moving. The ultimate action sequences and the performance of Del Toro would surely be worth the price of admission. Well worth the time.