MovieMeditation's Cinema Reviews

Whaaat? Why?

Btw, I'm catching up with this thread. It may take a while!

Take a while? Naah, you think so? I'm sure you can catch up before the end of the year. Thanks though, neiba, glad you find my writings interesting - even for their crazy lengths sometimes!

It may be my last Cinema Review, yes. It's unfortunate, but I don't know if I'll be able to do all those press screenings and such anymore, because of a change in my working hours an stuff like that.

But it isn't completely for sure yet, hopefully I'll be able to do some just once in a while...

Dang. Sucks that this may be your last cinema review since you're one of (if not possibly the) best reviewer. Let's hope that's not the case! If it is though, still looking forward to it!!

That's big words, FW, you don't even know what such words mean to me. I can't thank you and everybody else enough for taking your time to read my reviews and writing such heartwarming comments like that. Thank you.

As I said, nothing is 100% certain yet, but if this sudden change does leave me unable to do press screenings, I hope I can still go to the movies once in a while and do these major reviews, though I think I'll change up the formula a little bit.

But yeah, let's see what happens after Sicario. I promise I'll update in here as soon as I know more about the future of this thread. Thanks

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MovieMeditation's Cinema Reviews // Film Diary 2015 // Letterboxd Profile // MovieMeditation's Top 50 Horror

Tis a sad day. I'd usually joke at your expense, MM, but I'm very sad to see you stop doing reviews.

You know I think you're the best damn reviewer of this forum. I know it might be difficult to put that amount of effort in every review and still deal with real life. That's why I will never leave this basement...

Hope you keep doing them!!

I didn't say I would stop reviewing entirely, only that I'm possibly not going to be able to do reviews for new releases, which is what this thread is mainly for. That goes for the length too, since I won't have the time to do multi paragraphed ones like in here. I'll get back when I know something for sure...

Very sad to see a rival reviewer go away. This thread should have been stickied while it was active. Seriously mods ugh

Wait with the sad farewells till I'm gone for good, Gatsby. I still have a review coming up and I still can't promise you I'll stay out of competition just yet.

The stickied part I agree with though.

The Story
The film follows the idealistic FBI agent, Kate Macer, and her unnerving journey deep into the criminal underworld of Juarez, Mexico – a place where rules, routines and recognized formulas are all nonexistent. The only formulas used here are those that end up in measured bags of high value, while the only rules that exist among the Mexican drug cartels are the ones they decide to use as well as to break. With Macer’s demanding duties as a field agent for the FBI, she is often exposed to extreme situations, even though, in reality, she is only scraping the very surface of the frightening realities hidden underneath. What seems to be a typical workday, ends up as a terrifying one instead, when she sees herself in the middle of a grim and grotesque gravesite, almost coming off as a living nightmare. At this point it finally occurs to her how little she knows about her profession and the wide and layered war zone in which she works in. This disgusting mass murder gets the attention of undercover CIA agent and Department of Defense adviser, Matt Graver, who then appears out of nowhere to drag Macer behind the scenes of surfaced sanity and in among the bareboned barbaric slaughterers of the world – all the way out there, where backup and prearranged actions no longer apply. Therefore, Macer is forced to put her ethical and moral values behind her, if she wants to have any hope of cheating death, in an area, where a definitive “death sentence” is already given to you upon arrival. Once you have crossed the border into the violent vandalism of reality, you quickly realize, how the agonizing atmosphere is completely inescapable; the mental images of mutilated corpses are totally erasable; while those who conduct all death and destruction are wholly and utterly unstoppable...

The actual brains behind this criminally well-orchestrated tale of misconduct is a rare group of people, who knows their way around dead bodies and doomed individuals, going straight to the top of bloody good cinema! With this illuminating depiction of the illegal inner circle of Mexico, director, Denis Villeneuve, finally steps forward as a true master of dark and dirty storytelling, showing his captivating capabilities in creating genuine tension with a sense of sublime cinematic craft. This film is not based on true events, yet we are presented with a number of truths that we know exists, though we do not really understand them. It is certainly not the first time that the audience are being dragged all the way across the boundless border between the US and Mexico, where crime is constantly increasing while the population is constantly decreasing. Death and dominating violence occurs on a daily basis and drug lords as well as self-appointed assassins controls the small enclosed community with a tough and tormenting grip. It is this demoralizing sense of doomsday that the film captures impressively well, while almost combining the pre and post-feeling of an apocalypse. The story of 'Sicario' doesn’t exactly reek of originality, but in return it exudes of pure realism and a resounding sense of uncontrolled chaos. This film really understands how to abduct the audience’s mind for about two hour’s time, then place them in a chair inside a dark room where they really feel trapped and held down by the suffocating atmosphere, which tightens up throughout the movie like a clinching rope around the neck. The story is fundamentally screwed together, without any huge surprising turnarounds, but in return, that very story acts as a solid centerpiece, where all the other cinematic elements can be carefully constructed and established around the script. Everything from acting to visual and aural elegance is awarded with a broad and breathable space to operate inside – even if the tension can make you loose your breath at times.

Director, Denis Villeneuve, has taken what seems to be a rather meatless plotline and filled it with blood, sweat and tears, which really creates this brutally honest picture of crime in the Mexican underworld. The film shows Mexico from the worst side possible and brings the audience straight into the heart of this heartless and fragmented society, which has been created purely by and for criminals. The film follows Kate Macer; and we are certainly not the only ones who do. As soon as Macer and the rest of the task force cross the border, they are immediately on guard for enemies waiting in the shadows with loaded weapons and lawless intentions. From there on out it can only go one way, which is up, if we're talking level of excitement, and down, if we refer to our protagonist's journey into the unknown. Just like an assassin – which is also the inspiration behind the title – the story comes creeping and succeeds in maintaining a tense atmosphere all the way towards its target. We know that it is coming, we know that it is happening, but we have no idea when or how; all we can do is step out of the shadows and hope that it is not right here and right now it happens. As an audience, you feel stuck in static anxiety, with a dark cloud of constant fear hanging above your head, stalking your every step wherever you go. Looking at things from the outside it may feel like your typical by the numbers thriller, but apart from a high body count and precisely timed task force operations – which definitely shows that numbers don’t lie – you can’t count on anyone or anything in this film. It isn’t exactly extremely unpredictable, but it feels real and you are convinced as a willing convict to the madness happening on screen.

From the very beginning, it was crystal clear that Kate Macer wondered why she was chosen for this mission and not an agent with more appropriate and relevant experience. However, she soon realizes that neither the still and skillful Matt Graver or the mysterious and macho-manic Alejandro, are going accept her into their own little private inner circle of secrets, unless it becomes absolutely necessary. Macer, who is obviously accustomed to planned and precise missions, achieved as a team build around trust, is suddenly thrown into this hellfire filled with hidden truths and fatal tasks, where she must learn to handle herself and throw every earlier ethic overboard, if she wants to have any chance of surviving this dangerous and demoralizing mission. But because Macer is completely unaware about what goes on behind enemy lines, she is naturally ignorant about all the drastic methods needed to operate on the same level as the cruel criminals of Mexico’s underworld, and why they will have to think differently and more daring to obtain the information necessary. The only method by which one can get close enough to the goal in sight and make a difference, is if you go skip the outer circle and go straight for the powerful midpoint that controls everything. You will need to go directly after the hand that dictates the death rates and directs the country towards a doomed destiny; the hand that has a firm grip on every inhabitant and every illegal immigrant who puts his foot in the wrong place at the wrong time; the hand that has an influence in every crime on every corner and has direct connection to the people on the inside and outside of the law itself... If you remove the most important device to Mexico's constant criminal machinery, the undefeated underworld will fall to the ground like the Devil's private domino bricks. But the question remains whether this decision will change anything after all?

The character of Kate Macer is clearly this rational yet ignorant individual, who finds herself trapped inside the cruel closing hands of a world she doesn’t understand. She lived after specific rules and routines, which in a sense made her job more endurable when various mutilated victims and crammed-in corpses appeared out of nowhere. These images have surely burned itself onto the retina, which is almost even worse, since she stands in a situation where she can’t make sense of things. She has never been presented to what is beyond those houses she kicks doors in on – or to put it more directly, those who is really to blame for her hectic life and those who put all these dead people at her feet. So when she is hired to dive down deep into the chaos of criminality, she finds it difficult to adapt and comprehend what is going on – especially because she as a person and as workforce consists of control and unity, while the world she dives into is build around abandoned and divided anarchy. No one has your back, no one can be trusted and no one can tell you how to separate friends from enemies – the border between the two is a blurred and unclear boundary that can easily be crossed in and out between. She wants to solve everything, but it is hard to accept the fact that the law can’t help her where she stands now. The only thing that helps is to close your eyes to what is right and what is wrong and instead look towards the top of the pile and do what is necessary to reach this peak – and at the same time – your own closing chapter for self-acceptance.


The Acting
Emily Blunt does a good job of showing this woman in conflict with himself and her surroundings. She appears as a mentally strong person, who is also incredibly human and far more fragile than she wants to display for colleagues and those around her. She is dedicated to her work, but also sits firmly in a framework that prevents her from thinking outside the box – especially if this means that she must cross the border between what is right and wrong. Here, Josh Brolin’s character, Matt Graver, comes into the picture, a man who is in a way to blame for Macer march directly into something that she can’t control. He is good at manipulating others and hiding his own weaknesses, which makes him appear like this laid-back type with a trusting tone of voice, who operates silently in the background unless otherwise required – and when he finally did have to participate, he turned out to be surprisingly professional and focused – overall, a person you can’t quite figure out. Brolin plays the character well, but it isn’t far from what we have seen him in countless of times.

The same can be said about the mysterious Alejandro, played by Benicio Del Toro, who often operates in the foreground, but that in turn has its personality in the background – almost like a form of contrasting character to Josh Brolin’s Matt Graver, making the two of them a perfect team-up. It also easy to notice that both of these characters are using work methods, which certainly doesn’t merge with Kate Macer’s morals. This is something that quickly develops into a conflict, which puts the entire mission in danger. But Alejandro conceals a terrible truth, which leads him to act as needed when necessary, which is something Benicio Del Toro shows really well with his acting. As with Brolin, he doesn’t play anything too far out of his comfort zone, but in return, he is perfect for the role of this “human ticking bomb” that you keep distance from but nevertheless would like to study at close range. Across the board the acting remains super solid but without many cracks and crooked ends that could have otherwise driven this film over the edge and into uncertainty. When thinking about the fact that the characters are trapped in borderline insanity, carrying a constant death threat above their heads, ‘Sicario’ plays it surprisingly safe in this area as well. It isn’t as big a complaining point as with the plot, but it is worth highlighting with a red dot, in a movie that otherwise does the darkness of it well enough to blur out everything else.


The Technical Aspect
One of the uppermost advantages of the twelve-time Oscar-nominated cinematographer, Roger Deakins, is the fact he rarely puts on a display or presents his spectacular visual skills as an isolated product that is made to be glanced over inside a small enclosed container. Deakins is a master at adapting to the environment he works in, while making the film function as a complete product, which is to the benefit everything else as well, as these will be beautifully balanced and persistently prepared and fed into the light of a man who wants the film the best. Deakins almost creates an open gap between two worlds with ‘Sicario’, which is so close to reality that we occasionally overlook how brilliant every little puzzle piece actually is. We almost forget how important it is that a film has the correct visual balance if everything from directing to acting are to achieve their full effect. The best example to use here are the perfect night scenes in this movie. Never have I experienced the pitch black evening skies as such a prominent piece of the bigger picture and as a dazzling visual element in the film, yet Deakins dictates both light and darkness like they were a single complete element. That being said, the film also captures the faint but flamboyant sunset, where the shine of the sun is slowly burning out and the danger overtakes the earth and emerges from the darkness. Without Roger Deakins I doubt the film would have been as filthy and foul as the final result turned out to be; a beautifully brutal negative that boosts everything positive about this man and his many talents.



The Soundscape
Almost like Death’s personal sonata the musical tones in ‘Sicario’ comes thundering directly onto the screen and encloses the entire scenario with its own subjective sense of chaotic law and order. The music in 'Sicario' is ultra dominating and soul devouring in its attendance, but at the same time allows enough room for the deafening silence, which is created solely and utterly by personal visual empathy. The film would do just fine without the soundtrack, yet it is the feeling of a menacing march from beyond, through streets and alleyways, which just gives the film that extra push out towards the cinema seats and across the border between reality and fiction. The decisive underlying discomfort in the musical compositions is what makes the film feel more alive to its audience, completing the atmospheric circle of which the director tried to mold together from the very beginning. It's dark, dank, depressing and damn effective. The Day of the Dead, coming from the Mexican culture, has suddenly become a frightening reality, where all sorts of troubled souls come marching through the town to avenge their death and tell the world about the underworld – here, not indicating the world of the dead, but the criminal and chaotic underworld, which is being portrayed so effectively in 'Sicario'.


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SHORT SUMMARY // 'Sicario' cuts all the way into the bone with its dead-honest portrayal of a criminal and cracked country completely out of control. The plot is not deeply original or truly surprising, but in return it doesn’t take long for you to feel held down by the dirty and unpleasant ambiance, which slowly tightens its grip on your subconscious until the suffocating sensation of the atmosphere has settled heavily onto your entire body. The visual presentation of the criminal underworld feels just as fresh as those corpses hanging around on the streets as macabre manifests for the criminal domination; but at the same time the atmosphere feels exactly as suffocating and rotten as those bodies buried underneath the ground or laying cemented behind the walls. The film is really a penetrating piece of an uphill struggle, which just oozes with technical professionalism, creating a good foundation for the other elements of the film. 'Sicario' is simply a cut above other films of the genre, created with technical elegance of the finest kind and with a persistent point of view on perfectionism, which pierces your cinematic heart like the sharpest of knives – an accomplishment only meant as a positive. I do wish the plot had been tighter and the stakes had been higher, but as a “thrill-to-kill” ride through your worst nightmares this is a guaranteed hit, man, no doubt about it.

Glad you liked it! I was really impressed by Benicio, and a lot of people are calling an Oscar nomination for him. Do you think so? It seemed like you thought he was pretty good, but not really amazing.

It was definitely one of his best peformances and overall it may be the best performance of the movie.

He could get a nomination but I'm not sure. I wouldn't mind if he did though.

How similar to Traffic do you think this is?

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

Despite being on my watchlist for years and years, I still haven't watched that movie. Shame on me. So I'm sorry, but I won't be able to answer that until I see Traffic...

That's cool. I didn't like it... So enjoy!

I do think I'll like Sicario, though.

Excellent movie, well-written, really made me want to see the movie. Patricia Arquette's Oscar-winning performance not withstanding.

Another great review...Timothy Spall is always worth watching.

Wow, thanks a lot, Gideon. I'm thankful for the kind words, glad you enjoy what you read. Love to hear when my work is appreciated.

I was disappointed in Traffic but am also looking forward to Sicario.

Keep it up MovieMed! I didn't read the review since I hope to see the movie soon, but happy to see the result.

When the thread implies "dead or alive",

the most of us just believe it is dead and move along with our lives.

But when MovieMeditation says it ain't so...

It ain't so.

SO THE PEOPLE WANNA KNOW...

review of THE HATEFUL EIGHT coming soon...