Sicario Trailer - First Impressions

In a word, this preview is intense. Trailer editing is practically an art these days, and Sicario covers the essentials: cinematography that depicts a taut series of resonant imagery (were those bodies in the wall?), familiar actors (Edge of Tomorrow's badass heroine Emily Blunt, for example) delivering suspenseful dialogue ("Spotter vehicle, left lane"..."Get your weapon out"), a score which propels the experience like an afterburner takeoff, and carefully depicted action to thrill the viewer. Filmmakers are given two minutes to enrapture the audience and create a coherent story in a preview, and this trailer achieves it to great effect for me.

Directed by Denis Villeneuve (Prisoner, Enemy), who is slated to helm Blade Runner 2, Sicario promises to be a high-tension, character-based thriller, centered on themes basic to the human experience: that there is creational good in the world, that something has gone very wrong along the way, and that this brokenness exists in each of us (spoiler alert: it's called sin). We are entangled and surrounded by it's nature; as Sicario's tagline states, "In this war, there are no borders between right and wrong". It is inevitable that no victory which can be achieved of our own will, and I predict that, "providing a measure of order that we could control" (as Josh Brolin's character states) will not work out very well.

Fortunately, this picture of the human experience is only a partial one. The gospel worldview teaches us that redemption and ultimate freedom from our bondage to sin is found in Jesus Christ, who has ransomed himself to set the captives free. Whether Sicario points the way has yet to be determined, but there is hope and not despair to be found in it's story for the follower of Christ.