Popular reviews

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  Review by Erik 🎼 ★★★★★ 9

  god said let there be light and roger deakins said wait for my cue

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  Review by Mike D'Angelo ★★★★½ 35

  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…

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  Review by gabriel guimarães? ★★★★★ 2

  The best episode of Narcos I have ever seen.

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  Review by SilentDawn ★★★★★ 24

  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…

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  Review by Matt Singer ★★★★ 5

  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/

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  Review by Amy Andrews ★★★★½ 5

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

  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…

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  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.

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  Review by #1 gizmo fan ★★★★½ 2

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

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  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

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  Review by Lucy ★★★½ 11

  denis... you can do so much better

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  Review by luke ★★★★★ 12

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

  A common misunderstanding surrounding Denis Villeneuve’s Sicario is that it is supposed to be "about" the War on Drugs. This has led to many glib dismissals of the film in some critical circles as something along the lines of a Traffic-lite with insufficient insight into the drug war. But debut actor-turned-screenwriter Taylor Sheridan is actually doing something quite novel—eschewing the tired “War on Drugs is bad” sentiment entirely and simply utilizing the drug war as a backdrop, in order to explore broader subjects such as U.S. interventionism and institutional corruption. It is a film that is more concerned with bringing our existing perspective of American ideals, foreign policy, and justice under scrutiny rather than examining the mechanics of the Mexican…

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  Review by Filipe Furtado ★ 16

  Pretty much the worse of every world it steps in. Deakins images are predictably pretty but they are never allowed to breathe. Everything here is pre ordained, everything, both visual and dramatic, has to fall in a very narrow function. And all the hard truths it deliver is of the sort any dumb down B action film like Close Range contains (and it is almost hilarious made like no one has ever point out how vile the war on drugs were before). What is truly despicable about Villenauve is how for all the hot air a film like Sicario has, it stubborn refuses to actually get dirty, it is always gonna go for the tasteful shot even if its time…