Sicario is an unforgiving tale of war & violence, which masterfully uses a modern setting to paint a portrait of hell. When Sicario begins, it’s visually all arid suburban desert-scapes and harsh light. Yet as the film progresses and the world’s ambiguity is unveiled our protagonist becomes morally incompetent. Cinematographer Roger Deakins and director Denis Villeneuve shift to a color palette of dark blues, oranges, reds, and grays. The desert becomes almost lunar as it becomes shrouded in darkness.
In a like manner, the color promptly represents the characters ideals and allegiances. For instance Emily Blunt’s character Kate Mercer is seen near the beginning wearing blue, which is a simple visual reminder of the notion of justice Kate firmly upholds. As Sicario moves along Kate’s support for justice becomes disillusioned in a systemic sense. The colors in her shirt gradually transition to gray and finally into a nihilistic white. Conversely Alejandro Benecio Del Toro’s character is often seen wearing beige. He is a cryptic like chameleon figure. Who dresses much like his surroundings although his allegiances and background are unknown to both Kate and the audience. Alejandro sheds a portion of his beige clothing to a darker blue once he undertakes in a more “legal” operation. Though after completing the operation he reverts back to his beige outfit and ultimately as his nature and past are revealed Alejandro’s outfit shifts to pure black. …show more content…
However, that thought was pretty much obliterated during the opening sequence as Johann Johannsson’s score made my heart swell to the point that creates a sense of