So, obviously Sicario is one of the top five movies of the 2010s, but, like all the films in the Randall Finally Watched… series on Dork Court, Wednesdays at 8:30 pm Eastern, sometimes these things just slip under the radar. I can’t give Randall too much crap because I missed it, too; man, Walker was 8, so there was a lot going on. I mean, I saw The Martian and Hateful Eight and Rogue Nation and that Pixar emotional-feelings one, but, I’m not kidding, I would see four or five movies a week before having the kid and I’d be lucky to do that in six months after.
So, yes, it sounded cool, and that cast is incredible and turns out Taylor Sheridan wrote it, so, yes, please, and I paid attention. Normally I just tell you to visit us when we chat about it and let you know ahead of time so you can throw in if you like, but I always have things to say about the films we see that is hard to sneak in to the conversation sometimes so I thought I’d start off the New Year by doing bullet points off my notes so I have something to refer to and you can read something that won’t waste your time and even might remind you to come berate us live.
The main thing I noticed this time out is how absolutely tightly structured this film is. I had a suspicion at the 20 minute mark, but everyone writes to that note; it’s the end of Act One in a ninety minute comedy and the main “set the audience on notice” mark for a two hour thriller. At that twenty minutes, Del Toro says to Blunt, “At the end, you will understand,” and I bet Walker the two of them are the last scene. He said, “Forget it, Jake; it’s Chinatown.”
But, listen to this: at the 40-minute mark, Josh Brolin says, “In the meantime, just sponge up everything you see. Learn. That’s why you’re here.” Minute 60? “Don’t go in the bank. She’s going in the bank,” and minute 80 is “See a uniform in the tunnel, and that’s a bandit, too.” At minute 100 we find out about Del Toro’s fam after he shot her twice and told her to never point a gun at her again and Blunt says, “I’m gonna talk” about the extra-legal shenanigans and Brolin says, “That would be a major mistake.”
At 120, Del Toro advises her: “I would recommend not standing on balconies for a while, Kate,” and as he walks away, she points a gun at him… but nothing they did changed anything because the last shot is a soccer game in the dirt catching a whistle to stop play because of automatic fire in the distance. I love that structure because the whole movie is right there and just absolutely sings in the minutes in-between.
I’m not sure I saw the value of that signpost structure when I was a younger writer but hoo boy Sheridan’s TV career makes a lot more sense after just this one flick. That ol’ cowboy sure can write.
Anyway, Dork Court, Wednesdays at 8:30 Eastern, 5:30 Pacific.