Search the Cinema Head Cheese Archives!

February 1, 2023

A Binge too Far #29 – The Sicario duo (2015 - 2018)

 

Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) in Sicario (2015)

Sicario (2015) poster

Sicario
(2015)

 

Honorable rookie FBI agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) volunteers and joins an elite task force with a mission to tackle major hits against the Mexican drug cartels, but what at first seems like a step up in the general field of law enforcement, it is in reality a journey deep in the annals of corruption, where the line between being a good guy or a bad guy is really thin.

 

Directed by Denis Villeneuve [Blade Runner 2049 (2017)] this high profile action film about the genre’s ever-ending fascination with the subject of the war on drugs is featuring a great cast (other than the aforementioned protagonist we also get Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro), a very engaging pace that rarely becomes annoyingly bombastic (which is a welcome surprise in this genre), and a tendency to give equal time to all players of the game.

 

Made on a whooping $30 million budget, it was selected at the competition of Cannes Film Festival, became a sensation with the critics, received BAFTA and Oscar nominations, and won audiences so much that it went on to gross a respectable $85 million, guaranteeing a sequel.

 

Sicario: Day of the Soldado

Sicario: Day of the Soldado
(2018)

 

U.S. politicians need to escalate the war on drugs and in order to do that they secretly hire Alejandro (returning Benicio Del Toro) and Matt Graver (returning Josh Brolin) who are game for getting their hands dirty. The conspiracy they stage gets the cartels fighting each other, resulting in a chaos of abductions and murders. The statement made by the franchise is once again that law enforcement agencies need to be brutal and vigilant in order to fight the powers of evil, but to me this sounds unethical, dangerous, and slightly fascist.

 

This sequel was directed by Stefano Sollima (son of legendary Italian filmmaker Sergio Sollima) and is less subtle than the first film, but not as bombastic as promised by the premise either. Made on a larger budget than the original, it grossed less too – an estimated $75.8 million, but still the franchise seems to have legs a third movie is already in the works.


Get books, comics, graphic novels and more at bunny17media.com. Use the code CHC at checkout for 15% off your purchase!

Follow Cinema Head Cheese:
Website: cinemaheadcheese.com
Facebook: /cinemaheadcheese
Twitter: @CinHeadCheese
Email: cinemaheadcheese@yahoo.com
Instagram: abnormalpodcast 
Pinterest: /abnormalpodcast/cinema-head-cheese/
RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/CinemaHeadCheese
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/cinema-head-cheese-movie-reviews-news-a-podcast-and-more/id393261942?mt=2
Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=18843&refid=stpr

You can support Cinema Head Cheese and Abnormal Entertainment on our Support Us page.

No comments:

Post a Comment