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| Review by Sharon Knolle |
Produced by Basil Iwanyk, Thad Luckinbill,
Trent Luckinbill, Edward McDonnell, Molly Smith
Written by Taylor Sheridan
Directed by Denis Villeneuve
Starring Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin,
Victor Garber, Jon Bernthal,Daniel Kaluuya,
Jeffrey Donovan, Raoul Trujillo, Julio Cedillo,
Hank Rogerson, Bernardo P. Saracino
Denis Villeneuve's devastatingly good new film about the U.S. war against the Mexican drug cartel is not the “crime thriller” you might expect.
Based on the trailers, it appears to feature Emily Blunt as a badass FBI agent who goes to Mexico, takes names and makes a series of big busts.
But if you've seen any other films by Villenueve, particuarly 2014's bizarrely mind-bending arthouse flick
Enemy, you'll realize that a straightforward crime drama is the last thing he's interested in making.
And while the always terrific Blunt is ostensibly the star of the film, it belongs as much to Benicio del Toro, who will surely be getting an Oscar push by Lionsgate for his best role since winning the Oscar for
Traffic. And one stunningly shot night-time raid will surely get Roger Deakins his 13th Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography.
Much of the credit for making key scenes so tense is the bone-chilling score by frequent Villeneuve collaborator, Jóhann Jóhannsson, who relies on the
lowest register of cellos and violins. It's almost a slowed-down, more dread-laden version of Bernard Hermann's frantic
Psycho score, and just as effective at putting audiences on edge.
The film begins with an FBI raid on a cartel-owned house in Arizona. Crack kidnap-response-team leader Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) and her team don't find the hostages they're looking for: Instead, they find a house of horrors with body after body hidden in the walls. The camera lingers over each anguished, plastic-bagged face as you realize, like Kate, that this is not what you signed on for.
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