Sicario Extended Analysis

This sequence as a whole can be broken down into two sets of scenes, these being those taking place outside of the house and those taking place within it.

Before the camera even starts rolling there is an important sound note, there is no sound effect to accompany the company logos. This immediately creates a sense of tension and makes the build of the soundtrack that little bit more effective. The sequence opens with a drawn out wide establishing shot which introduces the viewer to the surrounding environment and the isolation of the house being assaulted (which can be clearly identified because every character on screen is moving towards it and a sniper is aimed at it). It also introduces the viewer to the SWAT team assaulting the house as they clearly stand out from their surrounding as they are dressed all in black and they are moving slowly and stealthily. Finally the score begins at this moment which gradually builds increasing the tension in the scene. The camera then cuts to the interior of the house and shadows move across the window adding to the tension of the scene. In terms of sound the TV can be heard and although it is faint it is clearly not English indicating the ethnicity of the enemy before we even see them. The camera cuts again this time to a close up of Emily Blunt’s character inside the SWAT vehicle. Then a shot reverse shot is used between Blunt’s character and another character indicating some kind of friendship between the two. Finally this shot sequence transitions to a panning shot that gradually zooms out showing the scale of the operation and reinforces the professionalism of the unit

Then the camera cuts to a tracking shot as the vehicle accelerates towards the wall of the house. At the same time the orchestral drums and bass that have been building throughout the scene raise in volume in time with the acceleration of the camera.  The camera then jump cuts to an interior shot of the house, there is no sound other than the noise of the approaching vehicle which then smashes through the wall of the house.  Instead of a soundtrack restarting all of the characters in the van begin shouting creating a sense of confusion. Two flashes of light go as the swat team leave the vehicle furthering this effect of disorientation and surprise that the viewer feels. The editing increases in speed as the camera cuts to several moments of action as the residents of the house are forced to surrender the camera mainly focuses on the faces of Blunts character and does not show the enemy characters faces at all. Once the initial assault is over the editing slows down and the camera tracks Blunt’s character through the house showing various scenes of her clearing rooms while at the same time the noise from the SWAT team decreases . Finally the camera reaches the final room and Blunt’s character barges in.

The angle switches to an over the shoulder from the perspective of Blunt’s character and we see the man standing in the corner of the room with a shotgun before Blunt’s character reacts. Also this angle shows both the initial shot fired by the man and the return fire by Blunt’s character. After the crescendo of noise that the shots create there is a moment of silence which allows the viewer to digest what has just happen and shows that Blunt’s character is clearly a professional and is not fazed by this situation as is clearly shown by her facial expression. One thing of note in the scene is that the blood from the dead body on the floor is the first bit of major colour that is present in the sequence at any point this contrast draws the audience’s attention to it increasing the shock factor of the event. Another point on the use of the colour red would be that the curtain over the window in this scene creates a red tint to the colour in the room that adds and sinister note to the location

After this moment of action occurs two members of the team walk into to the room and exchange a brief moment of dialogue in which they express their confusion. The camera then cuts to one of the new arrivals and captures his reaction to something in the walls the audiences attention is further drawn to his reaction by the line of dialogue “wow”. The camera then slowly zooms in on his face as the soundtrack that has been absent from the rest of the scene restarts. The shot changes to a close up zoom on the hole the shotgun blast created in the wall and a small amount of plastic can be seen in the corner of the hole. The three character then run forward and attempt to remove the wall. This is shown firstly from an over the shoulder perspective and then from the side both times the camera does not show what is inside the cavity of the wall. The camera then switches to a POV shot of what ever is inside the wall and the characters on stage all gag indicating a horrible smell filling the scene then the camera flips perspective and cuts to POV shot of the bodies hidden inside the wall. At the same time the  soundtrack swells into life furthering the unsettling nature of the scene being shown

 The camera then cuts to an over the shoulder shot of Blunt’s character back outside while the soundtrack still plays showing her vomit into the ground which shows the disgusting nature of the scene as she was not fazed by the blood earlier but is appalled by this. The camera then cuts back to the bodies zooming in slightly to give even more grizzly detail before finally cutting back to a two shot of Blunt’s character and the character from the truck discussing how they weren’t their hostages which adds an element of intrigue and makes the viewer want to keep watching as they want to find out the reason for the presence of the bodies