Sicario

2015 Directed by Denis Villeneuve

The border is just another line to cross.

An idealistic FBI agent is enlisted by a government task force to aid in the escalating war against drugs at the border area between the U.S. and Mexico.

Emily Blunt Benicio del Toro Josh Brolin Daniel Kaluuya Victor Garber Jon Bernthal Jeffrey Donovan Raoul Max Trujillo Julio Cedillo Hank Rogerson Bernardo P. Saracino Maximiliano Hernández Kevin Wiggins Edgar Arreola Kim Larrichio Jesus Nevarez-Castillo Dylan Kenin Sarah Minnich Matthew Page Lora Martinez-Cunningham John Burke John Trejo Vic Browder Eb Lottimer Marty Lindsey Alex Knight Rio Alexander Eric Steinig Matthew Tompkins Show All…

Alternative Titles

Borderline, Sicario the Mexican Hitman, 시카리오, Sicario 1, 시카리오-암살자의 도시

crime thriller action

122 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Mike D'Angelo ★★★★½ 36

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

83/100
Second viewing, no change. Having now professionally reviewed this film four times (for The Dissolve from Cannes, and then for the A.V. Club, the Nashville Scene, and the Las Vegas Weekly), I thought I had nothing left to say, especially since I made a point of addressing the most common criticisms. But since a bunch of folks are praising Adam Nayman's takedown for Reverse Shot, let me quickly address a few of his points.
“I have to know,” Kate tells her pal Reggie (Daniel Kaluuya), but there’s little urgency in the role or the performance—and almost none of the obsessive fervor that bled through Jessica Chastain’s porcelain features in Zero Dark Thirty.
A couple more paragraphs about Zero Dark…
Review by Erik Nordgren ★★★★★ 5

god said let there be light and roger deakins said wait for my cue
Review by SilentDawn ★★★★★ 26

91/100
Sicario, not unlike its translation into "hitman", revolves around the act of stealth and the aura of tension it creates. Denis Villeneuve, teaming up again with master DP Roger Deakins, conjures up images of supreme darkness, but the true accomplishment comes not from horror within the now but from the foreboding blare of escalating dread.
It's nothing less than a sublime concoction, but one that decays as soon as familiarity is presented. With Deakins' soul-searing cinematography, Johann Johannsson's heart-exploding score, and Villeneuve's tracking mindset of "firecracker" pops and splattering eruption; Sicario is an experience that will enthrall any fan of artfully presented gloom, but its subtext and interconnected view of political systems will be even harder to shake.
Emily…
Review by brat pitt ★★★½ 5

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

ok i'm sorry but one of my least favorite tropes in the whole world is the Woman Who Holds a Man at Gunpoint But Can't Bring Herself to Shoot Him so She Slowly Lowers Her Gun and He Walks Away ..
#LetHerShoot
Review by Matt Singer ★★★★ 6

Remember the scene in BOOGIE NIGHTS where Alfred Molina is randomly tossing firecrackers at Mark Wahlberg and John C. Reilly? SICARIO is like that scene for two straight hours with no “Sister Christian.” It is intense.
TIFF '15 Review #2: screencrush.com/sicario-review-tiff/
Review by gabriel guimarães? ★★★★★

The best episode of Narcos I have ever seen.
Review by Evan ★★★★½ 4

Sicario might mean Hitman in Mexico. But in my world, Sicario means intense as fucking shit!
Also, that night scene is the best video game movie we will ever get.
Review by Amy Andrews ★★★★½ 2

A collection of real time thoughts:
~ I totes know all about this, I've seen Narcos.
~ Well, season one of Narcos anyway...
~ Damn less that two minutes in and this cinematography is already SICK.
~ Oh shit this is gonna be good.
~ Emily Blunt in uniform makes me feel things.
~ This is not my dream job.
~ INAPPROPRIATE FLIP FLOPS ALERT.
~ The least romantic surprise trip to Mexico ever.
~ Look at all these lads with their lads banter.
~ This cinematography though.
~ Am I supposed to be suspicious of Benicio del Toro?
~ Blunt is about to be extra woke.
~ Wow, I can't wait for Trump's big old wall to come down…
Review by davidehrlich ★★★ 12

as violent, horrifying, and unfocused as the drug war itself. this is muscular filmmaking from the first frame (and man is that prologue ghastly, even for a HELI veteran such as myself), and the runaround storytelling is obviously part of the idea here... getting a clear view of the drug war is like trying to hold water in the palm of your hand, and it ain't subtle...
but DV only has one instrument: a hammer, and that JJ score is in a pissing contest with Hans Zimmer. throw in Brolin's smug spook charm to soften things up a bit and you've got yourself a real hazy border between a wake-up call narrative and a deep need to entertain (don't even get me started on the Mexican police officer). and then Benicio Del Toro goes full Metal Gear Solid and... yeah, it's potent, but it ain't great.
#LegalizeBlow
Review by bree1981 ★★★★★ 8

This was absolutely epic, a lot better than I was expecting it to be, I was all set to give it 4 and a half stars then I thought, what could it have actually done any better? The answer I came to was nothing, from the first scene to the last this is a white knuckle ride full of tension and suspense, there were a few scenes where I was actually holding my breath.
Emily Blunt stars as Kate Macer, the leader of a FBI team kicking down doors in Phoenix, Arizona fighting a loosing battle against the ever expanding Mexican drug cartel's when she is manipulated into volunteering for a shadowy government task force lead by Josh Brolin's cocksure…
Review by SilentDawn ★★★★½ 11

90/100
The Police Officer subplot fails tremendously on a rewatch, mainly because Villeneuve only glances back at it when necessary, leading to a supposedly heart-wrenching conclusion that feels resoundingly false in the grand scheme of the narrative. Everything else, however, works like gangbusters. A sickly cinematic experience that surrounds the viewer in blackness before sending them right into the thick of it. Its eerie mood, showcasing a continuous contrast between horror and sunny dustiness, is petrifying from the first image of a SWAT unit lumbering in plain sight along a landscape of cul-de-sacs, leading to countless set-piece explosions of tension. Heart-stopping cinema.
Review by katie ★★★★½ 2

Denis Villeneuve just became my favorite director. The things this man can do with a camera, I will never stop praising him.

Recent reviews

Review by jude

Watched on Netflix.
Review by João Milho ★★★★½ 6

I was on the edge of my seat the entire time
Review by Mike Yoong ★★★★½

Look I just wanna watch Dune in theatre you don’t understand Miss Rona please can you FUCK OFFFFFFFF
Review by Andrew Olson ★★★★★

This movie is to the drug war what Apocalypse Now was for the war in Vietnam. The film certainly displays the brutal necessity of policing the cartels and maintaining law and order over the murderous and tyrannical Mexican cartel, but like Coppola’s classic (and the novel which it is based on, Conrad’s Heart of Darkness), Sicario shines a light on what happens when those in charge of maintaining order amongst a foreign enemy fail to police themselves.
Emily Blunt’s performance is the strongest thing about this film, which is not a degradation of its incredibly nuanced script, cunning cinematography, or its fast-paced action, but rather emblematic of a show-stealing performance from Blunt. Her arc as the good soldier who must come to…
Review by Dan Scott ★★★★★ 1

Wow I was actually not expecting this to be that good but damn
Review by mattgbauman ★★★★½

Why this wasn’t nominated for more academy awards is beyond me. Near perfect.
Review by Flexelon ★★★½

Sicario is a good film, but unfortunately not all of the film I prefer. I don't even know how I would classify Sicario correctly. I had fun with the film and especially the soundbuilding and the music are fantastic, but I don't really know. I actually wanted to watch the second part immediately afterwards, but after seeing the first I decided against it because I didn't feel like it. I don't quite know why, but this film just didn't toke me away. It is technically great but it didn't gave me what I wanted.
Review by PapitoDulse ★★★½

Está realmente bien. Muy recomendable si estais dispuestos a ver una película tan cruda como interesante. La dirección de Villanueva está de puta madre, al igual que el guion. Benicio del Toro se la saca. El ritmo es cojonudo. Mañana toca verse la secuela, del mismo guionista.
Review by jtheriault ★★★★★

Another cinematography masterclass from Roger Deakins.
Review by kinggame ★★★★★

Relentlessly tense. An incredible cast at the peak of their powers. Impressive as it is depressing, Sicario is an unforgettable journey into nihilism, and one of the best films of the 21st century.
Review by Matteo Spadazzi ★★★★

⭐⭐⭐⭐ = 83/100
Come in Durkirk di Nolan, Villeneuve crea un action/thriller di una perfezione tecnica che non è fine a se stessa ma perfettamente funzionale alla tensione che vuole creare. Una fotografia e score musicale da brividi che elevano il film ad uno dei migliori del genere.
Review by the_real_xeno79 ★★★★

A truly terrifying film in nearly every way.
So raw and unfiltered to a very uncomfortable degree. It’s very hard to watch in some scenes.