History YMMV / Sicario

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: While many find the CIA’s helping of the Medellin cartel far fetched (See above), the film is not wrong about how the War on Drugs is ultimately a pointless conflict that actually helps cartels make money. Considering that the CIA has a habit of meddling with other countries to the point of making things worse (and still do this), the reveal that they are helping the cartel to maintain control is not that surprising.

** SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: While many find the CIA’s helping of the Medellin cartel far fetched (See above), the film is not wrong about how the War on Drugs is ultimately a pointless conflict that actually helps cartels make money. Considering that the CIA has a habit of meddling with other countries to the point of making things worse (and still do this), the reveal that they are helping the cartel to maintain control is not that surprising.

** [[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 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, 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.
** [[{{Determinator}} Alejandro Gillick]] is 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 [[CrusadingWidower 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.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: 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.

** Even Fausto Alarcon (the main villain who killed Alejandro's wife and child) arguably falls into since even ''he'' didn't deserve to lose his wife and kids (who were completely innocent) which left him completely shattered before his own death.

** The aforementioned [[{{Determinator}} Alejandro Gillick]] is 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 [[CrusadingWidower 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.

* 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 Juarez himself]]'' as well as some 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 be seen as FairForItsDay.

** [[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 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 reason 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, 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.

* JerkassWoobie: Alejandro is a killer with very little morals and, depending on your interpretation, crosses the MoralEvdntHorizon 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.

* {{Anvilicious}}: The filmmakers really really want you to understand that they despise the drug war. In their eagerness, however, they created a film with an utterly outlandish plot: [[spoiler: Apparently, the entire US government is on board with reviving the Medellin cartel, using their hitman to do it, and not just sanctioning but orchestrating black operations and assassinations of children on the soil of one of the USA's closest allies without the consent or knowledge of the ally's government and the torture of prisoners in acknowledged US government facilities, the torture of American citizens in the back seat of municipal police vehicles, in public, in Phoenix]].

* JerkassWoobie: Alejandro is a killer with very little morals and, depending on your interpretation, crosses the [=MEH=] 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.

* ChildrenAreInnocent: [[spoiler: More or less subverted. While Alarcon's children haven't done anything bad yet, it isn't hard to imagine that they're probably already desensitized to violence, cruelty, oppression and murder due to their father's lifestyle; and they most likely would have ended up just like him regardless.]]

* {{Anvilicious}}: The filmmakers really really want you to understand that they despise the drug war. In their eagerness, however, they created a film with an utterly outlandish plot: [[spoiler: Apparently, the entire US government is on board with reviving the Medellin cartel, using their hitman to do it, and not just sanctioning but orchestrating black operations and assassinations of children on the soil of one of the USA's closest allies without the consent or knowledge of the ally's government, the torture of prisoners in acknowledged US government facilities, the torture of American citizens in the back seat of municipal police vehicles, in public, in Phoenix]].

* 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 Juarez himself]]'' as well as some 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 created in 2010 when the brutality of the cartel wars was TruthInTelevision, something even the mayor admitted, this can be seen as FairForItsDay.

* 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 Juarez himself]]'' as well as some of its citizens for its grim depiction of the city as crime-ridden and bleak, even calling for boycotts of the film. However, considering the movie was created in 2010 when the brutality of the cartel wars was TruthInTelevision, something even the mayor admitted, this can be seen as FairForItsDay.

* 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 Juarez himself]]'' as well as some of its citizens for its grim depiction of the city as crime-ridden and bleak, even calling for boycotts of the film. However, considering the movie was created in 2010 when the brutality of the cartel wars was TruthInTelevison, something even the mayor admitted, this can be seen as FairForItsDay.

* FoeYay: Alejandro/Kate, [[http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Alejandro%20Gillick*s*Kate%20Macer/works at least according to the fandom]].

** Even Fausto Alarcon (the main villain who killed Alejandro's wife and child) arguably falls into since even he didn't deserve to lose his wife and kids (who were completely innocent) which left him completely shattered before his own death.

** Even Fausto Alarcon (the main villain who killed Alejandro's wife and child) arguably falls into since even he didn't deserve to lose his wife and kids (who were completely innocent).

* SpiritualSuccessor: Arguably this to ''Film/{{Traffic}}''. 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, and feature Benicio Del Toro.

** [[spoiler: DirtyCop Ted]] who, despite knowing he's screwed with no legal leg to stand on, keeps blubbering about how he screwed up, making excuses, and keeps getting [[spoiler: beat up and tortured by Alejandro]] instead of simply answering their questions [[spoiler: at first.]]

* AwesomeMusic: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN9gcEZMZO8 The Beast]].