My Neighbor Del Toro

Heads up, I'm going to be referencing the film Sicario pretty extensively here, but I do want to make it clear there are NO SPOILERS AHEAD. I repeat, NO SPOILERS FOR SICARIO IN THIS PIECE.

Now if I promise not to ruin the movie for you, you have to promise me you'll WATCH IT. Ok? Deal.

I won't be reviewing the film here so much as I will definitely be talking about the characters, in particular, that of the beautiful and talented Emily Blunt, and that of the ever-versatile Benicio Del Toro. That being said, this piece isn't just about the movie Sicario. This is about the characters we love, the characters we hate, and the reasons we real life human beings feel anything at all towards those works of fiction.

As per usual, I'll divide this bitch up into sections.

First up...

THE HERO

You can put a whole bunch of words in front of that word right there, and you'll end up with a different archetype each time. The reluctant hero, the romantic hero, the brooding hero, the list goes on and on you can really do whatever the fuck you want with that particular concept. As far as any of us can tell, hero is just another word for protagonist. The person through which we will experience the journey, or the conflict. Their opinions, their hopes, their fears, their desires will all shape how we perceive the events of the story. The classic hero is often a simple character. Morally sound, intelligent enough, naive in some way (important if you want them to learn anything and show growth over the course of the story); the heroes of old are generally blank slates, static enough for any member of the lowest common denominator of people to project THEMSELVES onto that person. Over the years, however, as we've seen storytelling evolve and change, as we have watched the building blocks of mythology catalyze the continuous development of the modern narrative, that hero has become a little more complicated.

Look at Superman for example, arguably the most recognizable superhero on planet earth. People know Superman, at the very least they know what he looks like. For many, he is what comes to mind when the word "hero" is heard. In the beginning, Superman was a pretty boring motherfucker, too. Just like Batman has a gadget for every problem, Superman had a superpower for every obstacle. He stood for justice, for the American way, and that was always very unambiguous. Early Superman never had to ask himself or anybody else what the right thing was because he was always so certain, and that soothed the uncertainty of the very real people that picked up his comic books. I implore you, however, to look at Superman now.

More weaknesses, and less power. A fear of his own strength, and an anger when he isn't strong enough. His arch nemesis has evolved from a stereotypical mad scientist into a highly intelligent and resourceful business man who intends not to destroy or enslave humanity, but to save it. Well that begs its own set of questions. Is Superman even the good guy? Who decides? Suddenly the man of steel is a little less of a god, and little closer to being one of us.

I promise this has to do with Sicario.

Here's why Emily Blunt's character (Kate Macer) is so fucking cool. Set aside the fact that she is a REAL WOMAN (not real like a real life figure, but real as in a believable character) but she is our eyes, she is our proxy, for all intents and purposes, she is us. And the cherry on top is this: she is the perfect blend of old and new when it comes to heroes. She has a code, a very clear set of ethics, and to her credit, she sticks by them with undeniable resolve. She calls out her associates when something doesn't seem right, she wants nothing more than to bring justice to the bad guys, and she has every intention of doing so by the book and within the law. And that is really cool to see. But you and I both know that the modern American judicial system is flawed as FUCK. It just is, and that, like it or not, is the system within which Kate is working. Those are the rules she is following, THEIR rules. And it isn't long before she's thrust into a situation where protocol and training are of very little help. In the world Kate enters, "the land of wolves", the law is broken, and I don't mean by people in certain instances. I mean the law is BROKEN, as in, the law is damaged, dysfunctional, defective, does not work the way it is supposed to in theory.

The genius behind the conception of Kate's character, both in Taylor Sheridan's writing and Blunt's performance, is that she reacts to every situation the way any of us would, or rather, the way most of us would LIKE to think we would react. And in that, we are brought face to face with the flaws in Kate's thinking, and the danger she may be in should she be unable to adapt. Her flaws being OUR flaws. As slow and steady as the tension building is throughout Sicario, it does not take long for the shit to hit the fan, and once it does, our hero is forced to ponder some difficult questions. That is one of the most effective ways to bring us, the audience, to a place where those questions are going through our heads as well.

So yeah, there's the one side of the coin we get to see in Sicario, and in its own right, it is a very effective story element (the use of Kate Macer as the "hero"). But now we get to talk briefly about the real reason I wanted to write this piece. The real motivation behind discussing character.

THE ANTIHERO

Awwwwwww shit yeah.

This is the character where no mistakes need be made in relation to moral ambiguity. Whereas the hero starts in a place of absolute good, and may gradually transition to something less clean, the antihero walks the line between hero and villain from the very beginning. There are no lies or illusions when it comes to the presentation of this character,but  rather, layers are left unseen or untouched. You may feel from the film's start that this is the character you know least about, and sure, they usually are. These are the characters you want to know better, the characters you wish you could read or pin down. These are the characters that have the potential to surprise you.

Think Deadpool, a character that you probably love and root for, but fully acknowledge is not the most wholesome or healthy. The antihero doesn't just have to be a hero that does villainous shit, nor must they be a villain with heroic moments or qualities. In a lot of respects the antihero is just a person, and in that way, more real than most heroes or villains. Rarely do we ever equate ourselves to these people. We want to be the hero, we want to be the main character, or (if the antihero is the main character) we want to be the "best" character. The truth is, not all of us can be; from a strictly realistic standpoint some of us (most of us) are in fact a little more grey in the morals than we want people to know. Deadpool is a selfish guy, he's out for the fun, he's out for the thrill, and when he comes up against baddies in his stories or comics, it's almost always because the conflict affects him on a personal level. Superman might fly into  battle to save innocent citizens, but you won't see Wade Wilson get out of bed for anything completely unrelated to his life or his goals. A quality inherent to antiheroes like Deadpool is they usually have an agenda, and usually, it's a personal one.

Dude, holy shit, Benicio Del Toro. I can't say too much, but there really isn't much more to say than this. Should you watch this film, when it ends, you will think three things for certain. "How did they light that movie?", "Emily Blunt and Josh Brolin were quite excellent,", and "WAIT I NEED TO SEE MORE OF BENICIO DEL TORO'S CHARACTER FUUUUUUUUUCK WHAT THE FUUUUUUUUUUCK DO A PREQUEL OR SOMETHING HOT DAMN." And you know why you'll want a prequel? Because you don't know jack shit about this guy going in, and I'll make sure that remains the case. He's complex, he's calculating, and under the surface, something else is brewing. The conflict is unmistakable, he is the guy you have your eyes on from his first moments of screen time, and when he's not on screen, you wish he was. This is the dude, I am telling you.

It's been a while since I've been affected this way just by a performance alone. How often do we see a character so haunted, so subdued, fleshed out in such an intelligent way. Risks were taken with this movie and with this character, and they paid off, because when it was time for the credits to roll, I was a little lost for words.

MAYBE IT'S JUST ME BUT THIS MOVIE WAS HYPE AS FUCK AND I THINK A LOT OF THE CREDIT FOR THAT GOES TO DEL TORO

The hero and the antihero are two halves of one whole, the two faces of one...well I already used the coin metaphor...fuck...yin and yang, ok? Equal and opposite in a lot of ways, and in a sense, less finite and clear-cut than the dichotomy between hero and villain. You can't have the yin without the yang, you can't have the hero without the less desirable "anti" elements, and vice versa. There's a formula to storytelling, a tried and true arc when it comes to crafting a tale, and Sicario fucks with that formula. Though not in a bad, destructive sense. It's more like when your doorknob gets jammed so you play with it until it opens. With a little ingenuity and some brute force you managed to move forward and in principle, your opening of the jammed door wasn't all that different from opening a normal one. The two types of characters I've just described are what I've said they are, and they've been that way for years, but in toying with the relationship/similarities between the two, you can discover for yourself new ways of presenting what is more than likely a familiar arc in a new and interesting way, without trying to reinvent the wheel.

Sicario's biggest strengths lie in its tension building and its characterization. Taking the false, the fabricated, and adding layers and motivation to it until it appears to be real, if only for a two-hour run time. Watch this movie if you haven't already, it really is something special.