Sicario (Denis Villeneuve, 2015)

Sicario diverges from those of its predecessors dealing with the U.S. War on Drugs that are to be taken seriously, notably Soderbergh's Traffic, in that it is solely concerned with the actual bloody war between the CIA, FBI et al. and the Mexican drug cartels. This suits the modern tendency to equip every actor with big guns perfectly, and also plays conveniently on the current American paranoia of being a nation under siege, whether it be by terrorists or other irredeemably violent bad guys.
All that said, it is a tremendously efficient thriller, driven by an ominous soundtrack, Roger Deakins photography that's as striking as ever and taut direction from Villeneuve that bodes well for the decision to have him take charge of the upcoming Blade Runner sequel. Benicio del Toro broods menacingly and Josh Brolin growls cynical asides to good effect, which then means that Emily Blunt as the FBI agent flapping around in their wake, starting to have doubts from the outset of the legality of their approach, is even more at sea than she might have been with less toweringly macho figures around her. You can see that the idea was to present a complete contrast to their ruthless black ops manner, and she does put a game effort into it, but it's just too implausible.
Apparently a sequel is under way, focusing on del Toro's character, which will mean that one hand the awkwardness of such casting will probably be avoided, but without Villeneuve at the helm and the title of Soldado, the end result is likely to be much more conventional.

6/10