Sicario
Sicario
I’ve said this a lot recently, but Netflix is on fire lately in regard to snapping up licensed films for its growing collection (albeit sometimes it shrinks as movies depart). Right now, however, they have grabbed one of the best thriller and/or crime movies ever made.
That would be Sicario, starring Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro, with other spots going to Daniel Kaluuya, Jeffrey Donovan and Jon Bernthal. What’s more impressive is its writer/director duo of director Denis Villeneuve of the recent Dune movies and writer Taylor Sheridan of Yellowstone and about every other crime-based show on Paramount right now. Here’s the synopsis:
“After rising through the ranks of her male-dominated profession, idealistic FBI agent Kate Macer receives a top assignment. Recruited by mysterious government official Matt Graver, Kate joins a task force for the escalating war against drugs. Led by the intense and shadowy Alejandro, the team travels back-and-forth across the U.S.-Mexican border, using one cartel boss to flush out a bigger one.”
The film may be from a decade ago in 2015, but without question, it holds up over time, and its 92% critic score is well-deserved. It features some of the most harrowing-but-non-stylized action sequences every, and Del Toro is an instantly iconic character in the form of Alejandro, pulling Emily Blunt’s Kate into a cartel-killing spiral, much more than she signed up for.
Sicario
Sicario
Be forewarned, this is a brutal movie in many ways, it’s violent, but also even its implied violence is awful in certain scenes. It’s unflinching, but if you haven’t seen it and can handle anything this genre throws at you, it’s easy to recommend it without question.
There’s a separate sort of warning that I should say here too, however. Sicario has a sequel, Sicario: Day of the Soldado. Brolin and Del Toro are still here, but Emily Blunt is gone in a bizarre decision to have a sequel to the film with most of its cast but not its former star. But more importantly, the 2018 sequel no longer has Denis Villeneuve directing, replaced by Stefano Sollima and the change is…noticeable. Taylor Sheridan is still the writer, however. It didn’t review badly, but it’s certainly not the classic that the original was. It’s also not on Netflix to watch anyway, and you’ll have to head to Paramount to see it.
I am not being hyperbolic when I say that I believe Sicario is one of the best movies in this genre ever made, and it’s worth your time if you haven’t experienced it to date.
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