Denis Villeneuve has delivered two of my favorite thrillers of the past few years in the white-knuckle Prisoners and mind-boggling Enemy, so I’m understandably eager to see his latest, which the director has described as his most ambitious (but also accessible) film to date. Now, a terrifying and taut trailer for the pic, Sicario, has arrived – and it’s a must-watch.
After the horrifying discovery of a house full of bodies, an idealistic FBI agent (Emily Blunt) is dispatched across the border on a highly dangerous mission. Forming an uneasy alliance with two Delta Force rangers and a “consultant” with a very particular set of skills (Benicio del Toro), she begins to question everything she thought she knew about the escalating war on drugs.
Advance buzz on the pic is extremely strong, and with Villeneuve behind the camera, I’m expecting Sicario to be one of the very best movies of the year. The one question mark is his script, which was penned by Sons of Anarchy actor Taylor Sheridan, but what’s glimpsed in this trailer certainly seems like striking and almost nightmarish material. Blunt, del Toro and co-star Josh Brolin are a potent trio of performers, and some have been saying that Blunt could ride the movie all the way into awards season, so that’s another reason the flick should be high on every cinephile’s list.
Sicario premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, but it’s opening wide on September 18.
In Mexico, SICARIO means hitman. In the lawless border area stretching between the U.S. and Mexico, an idealistic FBI agent (Emily Blunt) is enlisted by an elite government task force official (Josh Brolin) to aid in the escalating war against drugs. Led by an enigmatic consultant with a questionable past (Benicio Del Toro), the team sets out on a clandestine journey forcing Kate to question everything that she believes in order to survive.
