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Created Oct 02, 2015 10:57PM PST • Edited Aug 14, 2016 11:45PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Great 4.0

   Narco-gang depravity meets its match when things go military on the Mexican border in Sicario, Spanish for “hitman”. A semi-successful Emily Blunt rebels against this turn of events. Semi-successful? Her performance, not her rebellion, which is unsuccessful. Yet the movie is much more than semi-successful.

   Sicario is sickly great.

   Loud and proud of it, Sicario features a panoply of macho male stars. Emily Blunt doesn’t stand a chance when Benicio Del Toro & Josh Brolin are doing some of their best work. The estimable Victor Garber and the combustible Jon Bernthal are also memorably strong in key supporting roles. Pow-er-ful Performances

   Sicario couldn’t be more topical, notwithstanding its End of Watch at the Border surreal CircoReality. Among all the books, shows and movies about the narco takeover of Mexico, Sicario is a deadeye hitman.

   That makes it one of the great movies of 2015.

4. Acting

   Great 4.0

   Emily Blunt is such a big moviestar now, she’s assumed able to play anything, including badass action star. Yet she’s hardly convincing as a hotshot FBI SWAT officer consumed by anxiety. It doesn’t help that she’s competing with legitimate badasses who she’s least among, including Benicio Del Toro & Josh Brolin.

   Del Toro has such a brooding visage that he doesn’t have to say much to convey a lot. He’s terrific as an avenging angel, appearing more clear-eyed than I last recall.

   Brolin is never less than great, and gets to play a mischievous badass in Sicario. He’s a natural.

   The solid supporting cast includes the always interesting Victor Garber and always vigorous Jon Bernthal.

5. Male Stars Really Great 4.5

6. Female Stars Very Good 3.5

7. Female Costars Great 4.0

8. Male Costars Great 4.0

10. Film

    Great 4.0

    Denis Villeneuve’s powerful film from Taylor Sheridan’s grandstanding script annoys even as it beguiles. The former as a self-righteous FBI agent refuses to see the greater good, obstinate till the end, a perpetual rube. The latter as the film builds characters over time, especially a Mexican father whose son often wakes him for soccer. We come to care about father and son, making the film’s conclusion particularly engaging.

11. Direction Really Great 4.5

12. Play Very Good 3.5

13. Music Really Great 4.5

14. Visuals Really Great 4.5
15. Content

16. Edge

    Sordid 3.0

    Savage violence is the calling card of Mexican drug cartels. It’s thus the calling card of this savage movie. Gird your loins.

17. Sex Titillating 1.6

18. Violence Savage 4.1

19. Rudeness Profane 3.4

21. Reality

    Glib 1.8

    Sicario goes overboard on CircoReality, picturing a level of over-the-top violence in suburban Phoenix that thankfully hasn’t come close to happening. It’s more Hollywood than Phoenix, put it that way.

22. Circumstantial Surreal 3.0

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Glib 1.4