Line #27 YMMV/Sicario


1	* AmericansHateTingle: While the movie has received critical acclaim in America, it was criticized by the [[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/sicario-drug-cartel-thriller-prompts-criticism-from-mayor-of-juarez-over-depiction-of-mexican-city-a6698496.html mayor of Ciudad Juarez himself]] as well as many of its citizens for its depiction of the city as [[CrapsackWorld crime-ridden and bleak]], even calling for boycotts of the film. However, considering the movie was originally created in 2010 when the brutality of the cartel wars was TruthInTelevision, something even the mayor admitted, this can also be seen as making the movie an UnintentionalPeriodPiece.
2	* {{Anvilicious}}: The filmmakers really really want you to understand that they despise the War on Drugs war. In their eagerness, however, they created a film with an outlandish plot: [[spoiler: Apparently, the US government is on board with reviving the worst ever Medellin cartel, to be run by a CIA proxy warlord]].
3	** … But on the other hand, the United States government has a history of interfering with foreign governments, to the point of working with criminal elements, the only really outrageous thing is that anyone would be stupid enough to think it would work.
4	* AwardSnub: Despite ''almost unanimous'' critical acclaim, the film only received three nominations at the Academy Awards (for Roger Deakins' cinematography, Music/JohannJohannsson's score, and the Sound Editing). The performance by Benicio Del Toro was generally ignored, though he did manage to earn a BAFTA nomination.
5	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
6	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN9gcEZMZO8 The Beast]].
7	** Also [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBMeEanGXi8 The Tunnel]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9BmmVWNNJg Surveillance]], parts of them being based on "The Beast".
8	* BaseBreakingCharacter: Kate. While everyone agrees Creator/EmilyBlunt turns in a good performance, the character herself divides viewers. Some enjoy her as an AudienceSurrogate amongst [[BlackAndGrayMorality the morally grey characters that populate the film]], showing how a normal person would react to such circumstances. Others tend to find her [[WideEyedIdealist unbearably naive]] for a law enforcement official, with a BlackAndWhiteMorality that makes little sense for [[SeenItAll an experienced officer to have]].
9	* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: Alejandro and Matt are two of the smoothest operators this side of VideoGame/ModernWarfare, some proper bad enough dudes. And the film's message was supposed to be that all the cool guy shit they do is bad.
10	* EnsembleDarkHorse: Steve, [[FanNickname better known as "Glasses Guy" to the fans]], was a huge hit with moviegoers thanks to Creator/JeffreyDonovan's chilling performance, his [[DeadpanSnarker snark]], and his deceptively dorky looks masking a man with ''deadly'' precision, capable of gunning down a quartet of cartel assassins in less than three seconds during [[SignatureScene the famous border shootout scene]]. His return [[Film/SicarioDayOfTheSoldado in the sequel]] was received positively by fans.
11	* FoeYayShipping: Alejandro/Kate [[http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Alejandro%20GillicksKate%20Macer/works has the most fanfics on AO3]]. Notably, Blunt had previously acted alongside Del Toro as his love interest in the 2010 film ''Film/TheWolfman'', meaning this effect might have arisen out of the actors' chemistry moreso than the script.
12	* FountainOfMemes: Whatever Alejandro says/does in the movie. To an extent, Matt.
13	* HilariousInHindsight:
14	** The movie was already humorous to [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse Marvel]] fans for having [[Creator/BenicioDelToro the Collector]] and [[Creator/JoshBrolin Thanos]] [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014 working together]], but it became even funnier when [[Series/ThePunisher2017 the Punisher]] [[Creator/JonBernthal appears]] in a minor role. Doubly funny because Bernthal [[spoiler: gets tortured by the duo, which the Punisher often receives... or gives]].
15	** This film was a Creator/LionsGate production, directed by Creator/DenisVilleneuve and starring Creator/EmilyBlunt. Come 2017, Emily Blunt was in [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTheMovie2017 another Lionsgate production]], which was released on the same day as [[Film/BladeRunner2049 another Villeneuve film]].
16	** People watching this movie and ''Film/TheLastJedi'' might wonder if this means that Creator/BenicioDelToro [[spoiler: is always untrustworthy.]]
17	** Similarly, in this film, Creator/EmilyBlunt is the TokenGoodTeammate with a [[ProfessionalKiller villainous]] [[Creator/BenicioDelToro Hispanic compatriot]]. In the ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTheMovie2017 MLP Movie]]'', ''[[RussianReversal she's]]'' the [[NoNonsenseNemesis villainous teammate]], with [[MinionWithAnFInEvil a nicer henchman]] played by [[Creator/MichaelPena another Hispanic actor]].
18	* ItWasHisSled: [[spoiler:This isn't Kate's story; It's Alejandro's quest for revenge against the cartels]].
19	* JerkassWoobie: Alejandro is a killer with very little morals and, depending on your interpretation, crosses the MoralEventHorizon towards the end of the film. But his backstory ([[spoiler: He was once a lawyer whose wife was decapitated while his child was ''thrown into a vat of acid'' on the orders of a ruthless drug lord]]) can make him sympathetic. Even his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eap432kU7kI&list= theme]] seems to imply this.
20	* MagnificentBastard:
21	** [[CowboyCop Matt Graver]] is a mysterious, laid-back UsefulNotes/{{CIA}} "spook" who deals in combatting terrorism and the Mexican cartels through any means necessary. As seen in the first film, Graver brings FBIAgent Kate Macer into his squad, claiming to need her expertise [[spoiler: but truthfully just using her as a liason to allow himself to operate on American soil, later having her life threatened to get her to sign the proper papers saying that everything he did was on the up-and-up. Graver works with Alejandro Gillick in tearing apart the Alarcón cartel,]] claiming that it is for moral reasons when in reality, Graver just wants Alarcon eliminated so his competition can take over and perhaps be easier to talk peace with. [[Film/SicarioDayOfTheSoldado In the sequel]], Graver concocts a brilliant scheme to kickstart a war between two cartels, failing only due to corrupt police, and, going up against his superiors and calling them out for their cowardice, [[spoiler: Graver ends up massacring an entire cartel gang to rescue the endangered Isabel Reyes to honor the seemingly-dead Alejandro.]] Despite his initial [[AffablyEvil friendly]], seemingly care-free attitude, Graver is a stone cold bastard who engages in both physical and psychological torture, murder, and illegal operations abounding to secure his goals, accomplishing nearly all through a combination of manipulation and strategic genius.
22	** [[{{Determinator}} Alejandro Gillick]] is [[spoiler: a Sicario defined by tragedy and hatred, using his skills and connections to Graver to satiate his cold-blooded desire for {{revenge}}. Once a criminal lawyer, Alejandro's family was slaughtered by Fausto Alarcón, resulting in Alejandro becoming a gun-for-hire to [[CrusadingWidow seek vengeance]], exhibiting remarkable skills in torture and murder that help his and Graver's schemes come to fruition. Hunting down Alarcón and [[OneManArmy killing his entire security force]] through pragmatic tricks and stealth, Alejandro calls out Alarcón for spending his nights eating dinner with his family, even while other families are killed on the drug lord's orders. Alejandro executes Alarcón's entire family in front of him before killing the man himself to seal his revenge. Capable of forming attachments to others despite his villainy, Alejandro considers Graver a friend of sorts, and grows to care for Kate Macer in the first film and [[MafiaPrincess Isabel Reyes]] in the second, at first showing a willingness to kill either one but ultimately sparing them, even putting his life on the line to rescue Isabel from death--getting himself shot in the face in the process, an event which doesn't even hinder Alejandro from killing a cartel group who threatens him.]]
23	* MoralEventHorizon:
24	** [[spoiler: Kate ''almost'' crosses it when she intended to kill Alejandro after forcing her to sign a document that said what Matt and he did was "by the book", but relents when she realizes that killing him in cold blood would make her no better than him]].
25	** [[spoiler: On that note, if Alejandro didn't cross the horizon already before the events of Sicario, he definitely vaulted over it when he killed the wife and kids of Fausto Alarcon before killing him.]]
26	** [[spoiler: Matt also crosses it (if he hadn't done it already) when he reveals to Kate that the real goal of the operation is to exercise control over the cartels and that, to achieve said goal, he has not only manipulated her to give himself an excuse to operate on American ground, but has also willingly unleashed a sicario of the Medellin cartel with a personal vendetta (that would be Alejandro) to do the dirty work, which ends up getting a lot of people killed, including two children.]]
27	* OneSceneWonder: Fausto Alarcon.
28	* RootingForTheEmpire: Some fans actually support Matt and Alejandro's methods of battling the cartels, considering that the cartel thugs are mostly not portrayed in a sympathetic way at all and the film shows Matt and Alejandro's methods actually working. It also helps that seeing Delta Force battling cartel assassins [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome looks really cool.]]
29	* ShockingMoments: Your jaw '''will''' drop at the [[JumpScare very sudden sight]] of [[spoiler:Alejandro killing [[WouldHitAGirl Alarcon's wife]] and [[WouldHurtAChild kids]] right in front of him before coldly finishing him off.]]
30	* SignatureScene: The border shootout and Alejandro [[spoiler:gunning down Alarcon and his family]] are constantly referenced as prime examples of excellent tension-building in film.
31	* SpiritualSuccessor:
32	** Arguably this to ''Film/Traffic2000''. Both movies are about the War on Drugs, take place near the border, have multiple intersecting storylines, exist in a CrapsackWorld, end with no real resolution to the questions raised, have extensive bilingual dialogue and feature Benicio Del Toro.
33	** Also to John le Carré's ''The Mission Song'', in which a skilled but naïve protagonist is exploited by brutal and amoral people in the service of Realpolitik.
34	* TooBleakStoppedCaring: Arguably the point of the film (it's something of an AuthorTract about the War on Drugs), but the only outright good characters are Kate and Reggie, and Kate ends up pretty broken by the end.
35	* TheUnreveal: it is pretty obvious from early on that Matt is a bad guy, and Alejandro is morally ambiguous at least, so a first time watcher my find themselves waiting for a twist that never comes.
36	* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The film was conceived during Ciudad Juarez's worst crime period in the early 2010s. As of the film's release in 2015, the city's crime rate is significantly lower. On the other hand, if you consider the movie as a representation of Mexico's overall problem with crime, then the crime rate overall has increased from 2010 to 2018.

Context YMMV / Sicario