I think I would best describe this movie as an art house action film - this movie is everything Saving Private Ryan was trying be: an action movie with intellect and thought, which is really hard to find. Everything in this movie works: the acting, directing, and pacing. For an art house kind of feel to the movie the action scenes are actually shot well with no confusing "in the action" type of shaky camera on display here. Nope just the opposite in fact. In between the action scenes there is enough character and story moments that further enhances the characters and story lines. I haven't seen a movie like this one ever. It's worth the time to see.
This movie explores the concept of how to actually go to war with the drug trade in America. It is an idea movie that raises a lot questions, doesn't necessarily give a lot of answers on the themes but gives enough of both sides of the argument that it forces the viewer to come up with their own conclusions. This movie doesn't pander to the audience but also isn't forcing anything into a political agenda. It creates a story, inhabits that story with some great characters who change throughout the movie with the information given to them not based on plot device or story advancements.
I've said this before and I'll say it again - Denis Villeneuve is a director to keep an eye on as his previous films Prisoners and Enemy were some of the best and most thought provoking films I've seen in a long time. Also, he has a visual flare to his direction that is seriously lacking in Hollywood now, yet his visual flare doesn't overpower his movies like a Wes Anderson, who seems more concerned with the look of his film than anything else going in the film. Villeneuve is more concerned with themes and characters than the visual atmosphere of the movie. His visual style certainly creates a world unlike most movies and his direction has a certain tension to it that amplifies all aspects of the story. And it's a tension that is earned, not forced. Another aspect of his style he does well that Terrence Mallick as been trying to do for decades is - let the visuals help the story along instead of being there to just look pretty. He is one of the best directors with a show but don't tell mentality that actually works and doesn't feel pretentious.
On the acting side of things this movie belongs to Emily Blunt and Benicio Del Toro, who are the central focus of the story. Del Toro gives one of his best performances in a long time - and in an action movie to boot, proving once again that when he gets good material he can swing with the best of them. Blunt does what she has been doing since I first saw her in TheDevil Wear Prada, she is, simply put, flat out amazing.
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