The best example I can currently think of for a similar situation is Metal Gear Solid V. This game is fantastic to look at and listen to, one of the first in a while I HAVE to play with headphones on. The series' director, Kojima, also does a lot of strange things with the camera in this one, going above and beyond JJ Abrams' love for lens flare while also fully committing long takes ala Birdman. Whether I'm playing the game or looking at it I'm constantly in awe, just like Sicario.

But when it comes to the story (albeit from the perspective of the most legendary soldier to ever live) you're left in the dark as an audience member to the point everything sounds like nonsense, or feels like it's happening just because the film/game has lingered in a state of being for too long. Sicario's plot was played so bare that every moment just felt like a plot device, it was so transparent. That series goes to a lot of bizarre sci-fi places Sicario obviously doesn't, but the basic emptiness is there, and with both products I feel is the primary if only complaint worth leveling against them. Both are otherwise perfect examples of perfection in their medium, you just have to accept the story they're trying to tell will get in the way of that from time to time.

I got what they were trying to do, like the first season of True Detective they were trying to tell a fair small, dense story while withholding as many details as possible to keep the audience on their toes, I just didn't feel the soul here. It would have worked better in that mini-series format, I think, where it wouldn't have felt as rushed to turn Del Toro into a hitman angling for a sequel.


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"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
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