Sicario Review

From its incredibly ominous opening, right through to the pitch-black climax, Sicario is scintillating crime cinema at its finest. With a trio of commanding performances at its centre, Denis Villeneuve proves yet again that he is an excellent director of morally complex thrillers. Packed with tense set-pieces and a standout turn from Benicio del Toro, Sicario has the power and potential to please both arthouse audiences and the mainstream crowd.

Emily Blunt plays Kate Macer, an idealistic FBI agent who is hunting down victims kidnapped by cartels in Arizona. When her crack unit uncover the bodies of over 30 victims, she is enlisted by a shady elite task force, headed up by the flip-flop wearing Matt Graver, played with effortless cool by Josh Brolin. But Kate is left in the dark by the officials that have drafted her in, as the war against the ruthless drug trafficking cartels intensifies, Kate finds herself out of depth. Operating around the dangerous border between the U.S. and Mexico, Kate becomes embroiled with an operative even shadier than her superiors; a man with a past so murky, it can be difficult to know which side he is on.

Benicio del Toro is great as the blank-eyed, shark-like presence at the heart of Sicario’s dark moral core. His Alejandro is a suspicious man from the moment Kate lies on him. The suit, the quiet determination and his overall moody demeanour make him a difficult character to warm to. But compared to Blunt’s much more wide-eyed and straight-laced Kate, he is a far more interesting character. It is very welcome to see a female lead in this kind of film, with Blunt managing to deflect much of the machismo that surrounds, and is directed towards her, but unfortunately her character gets overshadowed by the huge presences of Brolin and del Toro. Still, Kate is the moral compass of the story, and a vitally tough character adrift in a sea of suspect individuals.

Towering above even these fine performances is the atmosphere created by Villeneuve and his collaborators. Roger Deakins’ cinematography, so often praised in any film he elevates, is stunning here. Every shot drips with tension, particularly as Deakins takes a sky-high view of the border and messy towns and roads below. Accompanied by an incredibly moody score by Jóhann Jóhannsson, it’s the kind of film you can’t shake off easily. And more importantly, it’s a film you will almost immediately want to see again and again and again.

Violent, tense, terrifying and strangely beautiful; Sicario should be seen in the darkness of a cinema, but will likely leave you stumbling for the light.

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Into the Woods Review

The acclaimed stage musical hits the big screen with an A-list cast and effects budget to boot. When an ordinary baker learns that a witch once upon a time cast a spell on his family, he is informed that his wife will never be able to bear children unless the spell is undone. The only way to undo this curse is for the baker to head into the woods with the witch’s shopping list of conveniently iconic fairy-tale memorabilia to collect. All this is revealed through exposition heavy Stephen Sondheim show tunes adapted from James Lapine’s successful stage version of Into the Woods

James Corden’s baker and his wife Emily Blunt have to find and steal Little Red Riding Hood’s cape, Jack’s cow (that he was hoping to swap for some magic beans), Cinderella’s slipper and a lock of Rapunzel’s hair. Their own mission is intermingled with the trials of these classic fairy-tale characters with Meryl Streep’s witch all the while pulling the strings behind the scenes.

Director Rob Marshall who made Chicago and Nine here marshals his all-star cast to pantomime proportions. Added to Cordon, Blunt and Streep are Johnny Depp as Red Riding Hood’s wolf and Anna Kendrick as Cinderella to Chris Pine’s Prince Charming. The fairy tales feel forced together, joined by insistently chirpy songs that explain the plot endlessly. While the special effects perhaps make it more interesting than the play, the strange structure of the story means that just as you think Into the Woods is finished, there is a whole new complication thrown in that drags the film out to just over the two hour mark.

Cordon and Blunt are good at the centre but a lot of the acting around them feels like watching a particularly shrill pantomime. Cordon is the unexpected star who rises above the other cast members and despite some decent subversions of the original tales, particularly Kendrick’s feminist Cinderella, Into the Woods fails to charm in the way it should.

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Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (Lasse Hallstrom, 2012) Review

Satire runs dry in a soggy romance.

Fisheries expert Dr Alfred Jones (Ewan McGregor) gets reeled in by a billionaire Sheik and his lovely assistant Harriet (Emily Blunt) in attempting to bring salmon and fishing to the desert of Yemen.  But can a love affair bloom in the arid region?

Despite his reservations, Dr Jones (far less exciting than his namesake, the adventuring archaeologist) accepts the offer of bringing fishing to the desert.  This decision is made easier by his tentative relationship with the Sheik’s delightful assistant but also because of the UK government’s pressure to create a story of positive Yemeni-British relations.  

Casting the net and catching Kristin Scott Thomas is the greatest achievement of director Lasse Hallstrom whose former glories (Chocolat, The Cider House Rules) seem like distant memories.  Scott Thomas lands the tastiest role as the Prime Minister’s press guru and gets all the laughs with the sneaking satire that made the book so well loved.  Her oily spin doctor slices through the sentimentality of the script delivering welcome moments of spiky dialogue like a cactus in a sea of sand.

Despite being quite an appealing character with his musings on faith and fishing, the Sheik’s motives for his expensive experiment remain fishy.  The violent complications that briefly add excitement to the story are dubiously dealt out by those typically slippery Middle Eastern stereotypes but the film does question the ethics and intentions of both the wealthy Sheikh and those intent on destroying what he intends to create.

The love affairs of the upper crust characters fail to ignite the screen with the relationship between McGregor and Blunt being a little damp but both stars give charming performances given the limitations and predictability of the script.  It’s all very typically upper middle class with restraint and lip-chewing over who should jump in the sack with who but the resolution is never in doubt and the emotions are all so reserved, it fails to hook the audience or swim away with any tears.

Simon Beaufoy, an extremely reliable screenwriter, adapts Paul Torday’s book but has lost much of the political satire present in the source.  Following excellent adaptations that even exceed their origins with 127 Hours and Slumdog Millionaire, this is somewhat of a disappointment from Beaufoy.  Next up he’s tackling Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire.  Let’s hope he hooks a bigger beauty with that one.

Nevertheless the film is infinitely more entertaining than anyone with no interest in salmon, fishing or Yemen would suspect.  It’s a sweet if only mildly satisfying romance that has a memorable turn from Kristen Scott Thomas.  As a whole, most minds will release it as quick as they caught it. 

While not even remotely close to being as boring as the title would suggest, this film is still highly unlikely to get you swimming upstream for it.

I give it 5/10 but I don't think I'm the target audience.

 

Released Friday 20^th April in the UK.