Not to get overtly political, but given the horrors you see in this film, if this doesn't make you understand the reasoning for "the wall", not much more can...though the things that will can't be seen on youtube. Yo promiso. This is just a drop in the ocean-sized bucket of blood that is south of the border.
Director Denis Villeneuve told Jóhannsson that he wanted “music that the audience will not hear, but that the audience will feel like a threat coming under their feet, like Jaws.” The soundtrack gets more discordant the closer to danger the characters get.
I saw this in the cinema and my hands had cuts from where my fingernails had penetrated the skin, and my shoulders were aching from the tension. One of the best thrillers ever made.
@@freshoftheoven965 it wasnt as good as the first but compared to a lot of shit these days it was good. Besides I was talking about Benecio's performance, which was great in both no matter about the rest.
That entire sequence of them going over the border to Juarez and then when they're stuck in traffic coming back is just masterful filmmaking, so much tension.
You know I never noticed that she never finishes any of the cigarettes. Kind of a metaphor for what she's doing in the movie. Wants to be involved in this secret squirrel stuff to really go get the bad guys, doesn't want to accept all the baggage that comes with that. Lights a cigarette but never finishes it.
That’s what I thought, she volunteered, and she’s not a civilian, but somehow she was horrified at extreme measures for extreme situations. Maybe she should’ve been a second grade teacher.
31:00 that look from Benicio after he fires the first shot, stands up and leans in waiting those couple of seconds before firing the second shot, is absolutely outstanding. Pure venomous hatred and anger in his motion. 👏🏾
@@KN-op3et also what I've noticed, when he says "time to meet God", he speaks spanish, he addresses it to the family of that man, not him. Because that man is going to other place. That's my guess on that.
I live in El Paso, and I can confirm that the violence in Juarez did get to this level at one point. It never crossed over to that extent, and while that was all happening in Juarez, El Paso was voted the safest city in the US twice. If you lived in certain areas of the city(south central), you could hear the gun violence in Juarez. That's how close the two cities are. Sicario is easily one of my top 10 films.
@@RobertMorgan when the violence first started making waves many of us would hear it from family or friends that live across the border. How bad it got, who was killed this week, how much the cartel was asking for "protection" money this week, etc.
I was in Juarez while on vacation in Texas and New Mexico in 1985. Juarez was a fairly safe and touristy town then. When did the shit hit the fan in Juarez anyway?
@@WhatDayIsItTrumpDay I want to say 2005. The last time I went to JRZ was when my wife was pregnant with my daughter. She was born in 05, and I remember my wife clearly saying it was getting too dangerous, especially while pregnant.
Had an ex-girlfriend that was Hispanic and she had relatives that lived in Mexico.Now,we lived in Texas.The odd stories she told was that,do NOT drive a fancy car or flash money in Mexico.The Cartels,gangs and just bad/shitty people would kidnap people.Now,they wouldn't ask for that movie type of money,like 50 thousand,but it be like 2000 dollars.Now,if you didn't pay? It's just like a movie,they kill them.
What part of Mexico did you work? Because if you’re what you say you are, you might know that not all of Mexico is like this. The frontera is really bad, as are certain puertos (I wouldn’t go to Acapulco on a bet). Rich people need private security. Foreign business executives need private security. They’re not safe anywhere. And high end hotels need private security (sometimes employing ex-U.S. military with dual citizenship). Maybe your client was one of these? But if you were outside the frontera and a few other places, you didn’t see the brutality depicted in this movie. Maybe you heard some stories. The fact is that most of Mexico is tranquilo. I was born and raised in L.A. I’ve been down here a dozen years and I’ve seen a little shit go down here and there. But I feel safer here in Mexico than I would back in L.A. Believe it.
@@MarcosElMalo2 More ppl died in the Mexico in the last 5 years than in the War in Afghanistan and the War in Iraq, combined. I went thru a small village in central Chihuahua where the cartel killed EVERYONE in the village simply because they refused to be forced to work in a fentanyl/Opium lab. You can give ur personal testimony all you want but the reality is that you absolutely are not in safer in Mexico than in L.A. and to say that you are so authoritatively means your either not being genuine or you’ve never actually been to Mexico.
@@AbruptandOffensive more people died in Mexico than the Iraq and Afghanistan war let alone combined??? You high or something!! Where you getting your sources from, TikTok?
Gotta say one of my favorite lines in the movie are at the dinner table scene. "Every night you have families killed, and yet, here you dine." "Go ahead and finish your meal."
@@lockekappa500 He impies 2 things here, the druglord will have his dinner with his family and die just like all other families he killed. Also a religious reference to the last supper (final meal before they all die) as the druglord is religious (most cartel bosses and members are very religious ironically).
Yeah that ending. Countries like mine (Honduras) and mexico have this and way worse happening everyday everywhere. People become desensitized and what should be a tragedy becomes part if everyday life. You will constantly hear stuff like “they killed him”, “they shot him”, “he owed to the gang” from everyone around you. It is so sad but true…
This film is the first of an Anthology Trilogy. The other movies are "Hell or High Water" and "Wind River". Taylor Sheridan (the writer of the trilogy) also created the show Yellowstone with is top tier work.
"Nothing will make sense to your American ears, and you will doubt what we do, but in the end you will understand." And she does. She's not cut out for the black ops type works, and would be better away from the frontlines, and It's why Alejandro gives her an "out" by threatening to kill her with an empty gun (when he takes it apart before he leaves, you notice there's no bullet chambered). He respects the kind of officer she is and her integrity to doing what is right, it's just not needed where he operates.
I mean, most of the movie's weapon related stuff were accurate, but tbh in that scene he took apart that Glock improperly to begin with. You can't just pull the slide off a Glock like that. When disassembling, 1st you start by dropping the mag, then 2nd, you rack the slide back to check or in this case clear the chamber, 3rd you depress or pull the trigger, 4th you pull the slide back just enough to get the takedown lever without resetting the trigger, and then lastly you pull the slide off. In that particular scene, he just skips the 2nd, 3rd and most of the 4th step then proceeded to just rip the slide off. So I wouldn't rule out the possibility that there was an intended round to be in the gun in terms of the movie's purpose.
@Cory Whitley I think her hesitance to kill him had to do with what he told her in the apartment. That she wasn't a wolf and this is a job for wolves. She goes out to kill him but can't because she really isn't a killer like he and his CIA handlers are.
@corywhitley4573 In what way is it effective? Do you see any improvements in real life? They work outside the law with cruel criminals to get other cruel criminals and so become cruel criminals themselves while doing it. When you start to accept torture and murder of children etc to get to your goal you just become the devil yourself. What do you think would happen after this? Another cartel boss will be put in place, the drugs don't stop.
24:00 the scene of their silhouettes descending into darkness against the last light of sunset is probably one of the top 3 best of Roger Deakins' amazing career as a cinematographer. I spectacular shot in a film packed with spectacular shots.
Please watch the other Taylor Sheridan western movies, "Wind River" and "Hell or High Water". They are some of the best movies to come out in the last decade in my opinion, and have received little attention for how good they are.
the tighter shots in the final "stand off" from the balcony, Alejandro framed in a bright sky - his soul is clear & he is at peace with who he is and what he does, where as Kate is framed in the darkness of her balcony, she's forever tainted by these events and they will haunt her forever.
This movie does a good job of making you feel tense and anxious the whole time you are watching it. The music is a big part of it. I also think all the kind of "B role" landscape shots make it feel slightly like a documentary which makes everything feel a little more real.
Sicario is one of my favorite movies of all time. Del Toro, Borlin and Blunt are all masterful in their acting. The score definitely gave you that impending doom feeling.
This was one of Denis Vileneuve's best works as director. Ben Del Toro plays the wolf in this story and he was created by the cartel leader and he embraces that darkness without a single doubt and he would use any means he has to get his target and he did just that and Emily Blunt played her character to perfection and that is why she is one of the few actresses who can deliver a great performance in anything she plays and she has the heart to do it. Sicario is one of my top 10 films and the truly terrifying thing is that this is the war on drugs in a nutshell and why it is scary what the cartel does to their foes and those who get in their way and why they need to be stopped as well. Also the ending when the wolf gives her an out and the gun he threatened her with had no bullets in the clip and she wanted to do it. But he knew that she wouldn't do it due to her integrity and that she would be doing him a favor as well. But like the cigarette she never finishes it. Sicario was a masterclass. But the sequel fell short and didn't have the same level as the first one.
It's quite a movie, the way it was built and as you said, the shots, the music, it's all part of the experience. There's not a whole lot of movies like this in terms of style but all of the movies from Denis Villeneuve that I've watched, they all have this element, some even have a more indy movie feel to them but that little something else is always there. A great reaction, I'm glad you were all for it. I don't know if you intend to watch the second movie, it's obviously not the same but I feel it's worth a watch. Thanks so much for this reaction!
I grew up in Albuquerque, my friends sister, who went to NM State in Las Cruces. We spent a spring break in Juarez. At the time, it was a great party city. I literally wandered the streets until I could find my hotel room at 4 in the morning. This was in the 90s . The people there were wonderful. It catered the college crowd. I prefer to remember that Juarez. That's the Juarez I know.
I went to train down in fort benning Georgia. A full combat loadout weighed about 80lbs, and it was an avg of 110°. With the gear on, it was around 135 body temp. It was so hot, the sweat would sweat.
Sicario and the sequel really hold you by the throat and don't let go Hard enough to keep you in place, but light enough to keep you conscious so you watch everything unfold
One of my favorite scenes is the very end where Kate points her weapon at Alejandro and he half turns…then he turns all the way to face her. Inviting her to shoot.
I feel like this movie and Day of the Soldado are so under the radar, and that's such a shame. I don't know many people who even know about this movie, which sucks because both movies are two of the most incredible, beautifully written and executed pieces of cinema I've personally ever seen.
What a movie! That dark menacing soundtrack summed up the movie in your ears. Benecio Del Toro was born for this movie, he excelled in his role, no other actor could have done it better. Emily Blunt & Josh Brolin were brilliant to. It's a movie that flew under the (tunnels) radar.
This movie is Taylor Sheridan writing. The dude is amazing. Check out Hell or High Water, Wind River, and the Sicario sequel. And after that, the Yellowstone TV series! You will not regret a bit
I absolutely LOVE that you're a reaction person that has not only common sense but actually comment intelligently!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So many are just depending on their personalities. They don't know who's who or what's what. Their comments show their ignorance of what they're even watching! It's so annoying. Yet, you actually GET IT!!! I swear, watching you watch this movie was like ME watching this movie. You appreciate the acting, the locations and even the score (one of my favorite). So, THANK YOU!!! I see you watched part 2 as well. So, I'll check that out. Again, thanks for being smart when watching a movie.
“Wind River” would be an amazing react for Arianna, I’ve seen her love for “Prey” when it came out and wind river was written by the same person who wrote this film.
@@SgtBagel32 it is an intense movie but she enjoys the Native American culture from what I seen, and to see a movie that shows people how natives suffer today, im sure she would love it.
Taylor Sheridan is such a top notch writer. Idk if this channel has covered it yet, but Hell or High Water was also written by him. Equally another fantastic film.
@@Treadston3 I know the Sheridan trilogy, it’s sicario, hell or high water, and wind river. Beautiful movies, but I believe this is the only movie so far that they covered.
Truly one of the most unappreciated movies of our time... I remember coming out of the theatre in just pure awe trying to process it all. The writing, directing and acting is all stellar.
I was born in El Paso. We crossed the Rio Grande many time on shopping trips when I was a kid in the late '60s to early '70s. My last trip there was in 73. The entire area has changed so much since those days.
This movie is in my top 20 all-time. As you stated so well, the interplay of tension surrounding the action and the slow musical build ups is forceful and persistent. It's like being placed atop a high wire and being asked to stay there for a couple of hours. It also stars my fav actress Ms. Blunt and Benecio and Josh are ruthless and necessary as she butts heads with them. What a movie.
Sicario is a masterpiece, it's one of those movies that I, and many other fans, pretend that it doesn't have a sequel, like with Pacific Rim. The tension, the build up, the acting, the dialogue, etc., all top notch. One of my favorite thriller/crime movies of all time, like Seven (1995).
In 5-10 years time this film will go down as one of the best action films of the decade, much in the same way Heat was later realised as a masterpiece of the 90's
One of my favorite films. Great writing & execution on many levels...the cinematography (as you mentioned), acting, constant tension, & superb ominous soundtrack are such big standouts.
The shots of the landscapes and colorful dreamy skies are all too real to assume its anywhere but the southwest, no bs cg or color correcting the sunsets out here are something else
Every shot told a story of what was about to happen and makes the audience put the peices togethe. Like the entry to Juarez was empty but there was traffic on the way out
Most react channels annoy me cause they just watch movies and do not add anything. But you genuinely made me enjoy the movie as if I was watching it for the first time again.
When I was in Iraq we had incidents like that bridge scene almost everyday. There were militia that would purposely follow us and watch our every move, sometimes they would take pot shots at us when we weren’t paying attention or leave fake IEDs in plain sight just to get us to leave the vehicle and investigate.
23:52 He is speaking to the outsiders of his team. They are a tier 1 spec ops unit (Think Delta, been a while since I saw the film). They see danger when somebody is not trained enough as well as them. That is why he is instructing them to follow their lead and don't f**k up, because it will cost their lives.
I really like that this lady loves the landscape shots. Like, finally somebody else is paying attention to the setting. I love seeing pretty movie setting. Not just the obvious, Like Pandora, from Avatar. The stuff to search for, like that telephone scene, when Al Pacino was calling from that phone booth. The setting was so pretty.
This film is really good at exploring the reality of good and evil, and how nothing is necessarily black and white. “ do you really want to make a difference or would you like to pretend like you’re making a difference” - A Matter of film ( video essay on sicario)
Denis Villeneuve should make all of the films. Another really great film on this level is Steven Soderbergh's Traffic - again with Benicio del Toro, Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta Jones and Don Cheadle. Great film about drug traffic from four colliding story perspectives.
This is my favorite film from my favorite director. When a movie makes you think and ponder, and leaves you with a sense of awe you can't really explain, you know you just watched cinema gold.
#1 The Beast by Jóhann Jóhannsson is masterful music. #2 Wind River, Sicario 1 & 2, Hell Or High Water, 1883.. certified bangers. Taylor Sheridan, king of modern day westerns.
Fantastic pick Chad. This is a goodin’. It will b even better watching Arianna react. The 2nd one (Sicario: Day of the Soldado) is pretty good too. Especially the last 5 minutes.
I remember me and my brothers going to eat at some restaurants in Juarez in the late 70s , pretty fun back then, wouldn’t venture over there now , thanks
You are literally my favourite reactor of the channel Arianna, please get your own channel, or appear more because I literally will never not watch your reactions. Positively the most genuine. Everybody else is great of course, but youre truly so empathetic and real.
One of the things I love about living in this region is the skyline. I live in New mexico about 200 miles from El Paso and Juarez where a good portion of this movie was filmed. The skyline during our monsoon season really is that beautiful. As far the movie goes, it barely even scratches the surface of just how f**ked the situation on the border is. It's dead accurate in it portrayal of the brutality of Mexican cartels. And our government does nothing to curb the crime out here. The cartel problem in mexico is directly connected to the immigration problem on our border. And most of the people who make it across are handled by members of the cartels on both sides of the border. They have to pay "insurances" to members of the cartels to ensure they (they're family members) stay alive. The whole situation is screwed.
That career in criminology will be fascinating, in different ways depending on what part of it you get into. I'm a retired psychotherapist - I worked in the state prison system in that role, as a therapist and then as the clinical supervisor in the prison psych hospital that serves the entire state prison system here. It's the biggest psychiatric hospital in the state, which is a damning comment on our society's priorities - we had 104 beds, and always a waiting list. I worked with quite a few murderers, some of them in gangs, one a serial killer. One way you can detect a psychopath - totally unscientific - is that when you find yourself sitting in a room with them and they're looking at you, the hair on the back of your neck stands up. They trigger intense dread and anxiety without you being able to point to anything they're doing to cause it. But it's like finding yourself inside a big cat's enclosure at a zoo with the cat staring at you.
You missed an important point in the scene with the family at the dinner table. After the drug lord mentioned the assassin's wife, the assassin added that it was his daughter killed also. You see the drug lord's wife gasps and cringes. I believe that at that moment, she knows that it may not just be only her husband who may be killed.
I was just like you. I just bought it because it was $4.99 on Apple. Didn’t know what it was about. That first scene with the walls had me like whoa. THIS IS A TOUGH MOVIE. And I feel for Benicio a lot.
I always love the first scene they just hit us harder and harder with miss shot of shotgun to bodies in the wall and Boom Explosive out of nowhere in first 10 min "chef kiss" to this opening scene
Deakins shot this. Sir Roger Deakins to you! - No Country for Old Men (The Coen Brothers, Dir), Fargo (The Coen Brothers, Writter / Dir.) , Skyfall (Sam Mendes, Dir) ... He works with the Coehn Brothers and now Sam Mendez and Villeneuve. Roger Deakins say "no" to shooting standard coverage. He says yes to just shooting it for story.
If I could have one piece of creative input into this film, I think ending the film at 33:29 with a cut to black screen would have been perfect. She was told ‘never raise a weapon at me again’ and she does it here. We get a shot of him looking up at her and then a shot of her with a tear running down her cheek as she knows there’s no going back. It’d be a great cliffhanger. A ‘did he or didn’t he kill her’ scenario that fans could debate over.
She reminded him of his daughter if she had lived. Especially as he was coming out of nightmare on the plane and Kate genuinely asked if he was ok. That gave him a little humanity and he gave her a huge amount of leeway and understood that Kate before the knowledge she gained was also what he needed to fight for. Not just revenge. I really enjoyed the last scene for that :D
Benicio del Toro is one of the finest actors of the last fifty years, another outstanding performance in "Traffic" a must watch. Diegesis: the finest crime drama movie ever made: "The French Connection", based on a true story, nominated for 30 movie industry awards, winning 18 awards, including Academy Awards for Best Picture (1972), Best Director (William Friedkin), Best Actor (Gene Hackman), The Motion Picture Editors Guild (2012) - the tenth best edited film of all time, and so on, buy this movie, steal it, rent it, but watch it.
Mind you, they have CAG (Delta Force) tier one operators on the mission into Mexico. They’re the top SF group in the US Army branch, so them being used on this mission also shows how deadly the situation could become
I used to party in Juarez when I was in high school. It's always been sketchy. This is Juarez of the early 2000s. It's relatively safe, relatively. Just mind your own and know where you're going.
Such an amazing movie. It has some flaws in Law Enforcement tactics, but it does make for a better movie. The musical score and acting are so amazing. This is also my favorite Benicio del Toro performance. The last scene where he shows in a simple look that he doesn't care if he dies. So awesome. The tension is great throughout the movie.
Wish they would make a prequel just to kind of see Alejandro with his family in Columbia and how it all went down just cartel on cartel violence through out
Watching your reaction helped me understand one premise in the movie. Brolin’s character chose her because she would be oblivious to the truth of the mission, but be easier to manipulate once she discovered it. Her partner would have discovered the truth faster and would have been harder to keep quiet because of his background.
Check Out the Post Reaction Discussion Video Here: ua-cam.com/video/VnihGgmgr_E/v-deo.html
Not to get overtly political, but given the horrors you see in this film, if this doesn't make you understand the reasoning for "the wall", not much more can...though the things that will can't be seen on youtube. Yo promiso. This is just a drop in the ocean-sized bucket of blood that is south of the border.
So. Watch Incendies by the same director. It is a perfect movie.
Woop woop but not
Woop woop
Director Denis Villeneuve told Jóhannsson that he wanted “music that the audience will not hear, but that the audience will feel like a threat coming under their feet, like Jaws.” The soundtrack gets more discordant the closer to danger the characters get.
I saw this in the cinema and my hands had cuts from where my fingernails had penetrated the skin, and my shoulders were aching from the tension. One of the best thrillers ever made.
The soundtrack is called the beast. The drums is the heart beat, and the other instrument are the lungs
*I can't just write 'not Jaws'... do pretend writing!*
"...are you pretending to write?"
is that a guy who did "Prisoners"?
RIP Jóhann Jóhannsson. He was such a good composer.
Benecio Del Toro's acting in this movie and the sequel is on another level. He is such a badass.
He really is. In Fear and Loathing he was great, Usual suspects, too. Even in his role in the newer Star Wars.
And I love the way he says "Welcome to Juarez."
Yeah Benecio steals the show.
The sequel sucked are u serious?
@@freshoftheoven965 it wasnt as good as the first but compared to a lot of shit these days it was good. Besides I was talking about Benecio's performance, which was great in both no matter about the rest.
This movie is a masterclass in building tension. The score is just fantastic.
For real. The stuck in traffic scene… SHEEESH
That entire sequence of them going over the border to Juarez and then when they're stuck in traffic coming back is just masterful filmmaking, so much tension.
There's a great video about it. Cine Fix "1 brilliant moment of tension"
And others im sure. Great movie!
Yes Indeed but in reality they use planes to do this high profile criminal transfers.
I cannot think of another film that builds the tension so well. Maybe High Noon?
You could cut the tension with a butter knife
My favorite gunfight scene in a movie
You know I never noticed that she never finishes any of the cigarettes. Kind of a metaphor for what she's doing in the movie. Wants to be involved in this secret squirrel stuff to really go get the bad guys, doesn't want to accept all the baggage that comes with that. Lights a cigarette but never finishes it.
I like that you pointed this out, never thought about that until now.
As a smoker i noticed the cigarettes weren't lit and the actor wasn't smoking. It's silly but it looks very unnatural seeing non smokers smoking.
@@dildodickings2668 Yeah lol, little reminders on screen here and there to show it is just acting a scene. Not every actor agrees to smoking
there are herb cigarettes which have nothing to do with tobacco, i am a bit surprised Emily Blunt rejected them
That’s what I thought, she volunteered, and she’s not a civilian, but somehow she was horrified at extreme measures for extreme situations. Maybe she should’ve been a second grade teacher.
31:00 that look from Benicio after he fires the first shot, stands up and leans in waiting those couple of seconds before firing the second shot, is absolutely outstanding. Pure venomous hatred and anger in his motion. 👏🏾
@@kato093 Alejandro is my hero.
@@abrahamkoffi9922 So you love child murderers?
@@kato093 He also asked not in front of his boys. So the boys got sent first... and therefore can't see daddy get shot.
@@KN-op3et also what I've noticed, when he says "time to meet God", he speaks spanish, he addresses it to the family of that man, not him. Because that man is going to other place. That's my guess on that.
Best revenge/murder scene. The boss man never suspected what was going to happen. It was very poetic.
Denis Villeneuve in the director's chair, my man Roger Deakins behind the camera and Johann Johannson (RIP) with the score... Such an amazing team.
“Ah you’re asking me how a watch works… for now just an eye on the time”
That fucking Line is GOLD!! The writing in this movie is top Tier.
Totally agree. I was saying that during the live stream
@Move_I_Got_This I have to ask: how did you feel about the sequel. It was a letdown for me but it still held its own just not in the Sicario World.
Taylor sheridan is the writer. Most of his stuff is awesome. My favorite is 1883
@@Bhint320610 It was a letdown for me too. It was a bit illogical for me how they went about certain things.
The sequel was not Directed by Denis...yes it wasn't as good as this one. But I watched it because of Benicio.
I live in El Paso, and I can confirm that the violence in Juarez did get to this level at one point. It never crossed over to that extent, and while that was all happening in Juarez, El Paso was voted the safest city in the US twice. If you lived in certain areas of the city(south central), you could hear the gun violence in Juarez. That's how close the two cities are. Sicario is easily one of my top 10 films.
Pretty insane to think one of the most dangerous warzones on Earth is our neighbor.
@@RobertMorgan when the violence first started making waves many of us would hear it from family or friends that live across the border. How bad it got, who was killed this week, how much the cartel was asking for "protection" money this week, etc.
I was in Juarez while on vacation in Texas and New Mexico in 1985. Juarez was a fairly safe and touristy town then. When did the shit hit the fan in Juarez anyway?
@@WhatDayIsItTrumpDay I want to say 2005. The last time I went to JRZ was when my wife was pregnant with my daughter. She was born in 05, and I remember my wife clearly saying it was getting too dangerous, especially while pregnant.
I stop visiting Juarez in 2016. I live in Cruces and we would go to drink at 18. It just become too difficult to navigate safely
As someone who has worked private security in Mexico, this movie is EXTREMELY accurate and only scratches the surface of the brutality down there.
Had an ex-girlfriend that was Hispanic and she had relatives that lived in Mexico.Now,we lived in Texas.The odd stories she told was that,do NOT drive a fancy car or flash money in Mexico.The Cartels,gangs and just bad/shitty people would kidnap people.Now,they wouldn't ask for that movie type of money,like 50 thousand,but it be like 2000 dollars.Now,if you didn't pay? It's just like a movie,they kill them.
Except alot of the fighting.
What part of Mexico did you work? Because if you’re what you say you are, you might know that not all of Mexico is like this. The frontera is really bad, as are certain puertos (I wouldn’t go to Acapulco on a bet).
Rich people need private security. Foreign business executives need private security. They’re not safe anywhere. And high end hotels need private security (sometimes employing ex-U.S. military with dual citizenship). Maybe your client was one of these?
But if you were outside the frontera and a few other places, you didn’t see the brutality depicted in this movie. Maybe you heard some stories. The fact is that most of Mexico is tranquilo.
I was born and raised in L.A. I’ve been down here a dozen years and I’ve seen a little shit go down here and there. But I feel safer here in Mexico than I would back in L.A. Believe it.
@@MarcosElMalo2 More ppl died in the Mexico in the last 5 years than in the War in Afghanistan and the War in Iraq, combined. I went thru a small village in central Chihuahua where the cartel killed EVERYONE in the village simply because they refused to be forced to work in a fentanyl/Opium lab.
You can give ur personal testimony all you want but the reality is that you absolutely are not in safer in Mexico than in L.A. and to say that you are so authoritatively means your either not being genuine or you’ve never actually been to Mexico.
@@AbruptandOffensive more people died in Mexico than the Iraq and Afghanistan war let alone combined??? You high or something!! Where you getting your sources from, TikTok?
Gotta say one of my favorite lines in the movie are at the dinner table scene.
"Every night you have families killed, and yet, here you dine."
"Go ahead and finish your meal."
I never connected the two, that's some damn good writing.
@@carstereobandits Is he implying that he should finish his meal like any other where he had families die, except this family will be his own?
@@lockekappa500 That's my assumption.
Benecio completely ruined the family dinner
@@lockekappa500 He impies 2 things here, the druglord will have his dinner with his family and die just like all other families he killed. Also a religious reference to the last supper (final meal before they all die) as the druglord is religious (most cartel bosses and members are very religious ironically).
Possibly in my top 5. So good. Roger Deakins is a fantastic cinematographer.
I appreciate the cinematography more and more every time I watch it
Yeah that ending. Countries like mine (Honduras) and mexico have this and way worse happening everyday everywhere. People become desensitized and what should be a tragedy becomes part if everyday life. You will constantly hear stuff like “they killed him”, “they shot him”, “he owed to the gang” from everyone around you. It is so sad but true…
True.. Very True
This film is the first of an Anthology Trilogy. The other movies are "Hell or High Water" and "Wind River". Taylor Sheridan (the writer of the trilogy) also created the show Yellowstone with is top tier work.
Wind River 10/10
It's called The American Frontier Trilogy.
All three are excellent movies and have some of my "favorite" usage of violence in them. Brief. Shocking. Unglorified.
"Nothing will make sense to your American ears, and you will doubt what we do, but in the end you will understand."
And she does.
She's not cut out for the black ops type works, and would be better away from the frontlines, and It's why Alejandro gives her an "out" by threatening to kill her with an empty gun (when he takes it apart before he leaves, you notice there's no bullet chambered). He respects the kind of officer she is and her integrity to doing what is right, it's just not needed where he operates.
I missed that his gun was empty. Good catch.
I mean, most of the movie's weapon related stuff were accurate, but tbh in that scene he took apart that Glock improperly to begin with. You can't just pull the slide off a Glock like that. When disassembling, 1st you start by dropping the mag, then 2nd, you rack the slide back to check or in this case clear the chamber, 3rd you depress or pull the trigger, 4th you pull the slide back just enough to get the takedown lever without resetting the trigger, and then lastly you pull the slide off. In that particular scene, he just skips the 2nd, 3rd and most of the 4th step then proceeded to just rip the slide off. So I wouldn't rule out the possibility that there was an intended round to be in the gun in terms of the movie's purpose.
@Cory Whitley I think her hesitance to kill him had to do with what he told her in the apartment. That she wasn't a wolf and this is a job for wolves. She goes out to kill him but can't because she really isn't a killer like he and his CIA handlers are.
@corywhitley4573 In what way is it effective? Do you see any improvements in real life? They work outside the law with cruel criminals to get other cruel criminals and so become cruel criminals themselves while doing it. When you start to accept torture and murder of children etc to get to your goal you just become the devil yourself. What do you think would happen after this? Another cartel boss will be put in place, the drugs don't stop.
Frontlines? More like behind enemy lines.
24:00 the scene of their silhouettes descending into darkness against the last light of sunset is probably one of the top 3 best of Roger Deakins' amazing career as a cinematographer. I spectacular shot in a film packed with spectacular shots.
Please watch the other Taylor Sheridan western movies, "Wind River" and "Hell or High Water". They are some of the best movies to come out in the last decade in my opinion, and have received little attention for how good they are.
Wind River was brilliant. I tried watching Hell or High Water but I keep falling asleep lol
Wind River is an absolute masterpiece
@@Iladimah Yeah not your fault you don't have good taste.
Those two and Sicario make up Taylor Sheridan’s modern frontier trilogy.
Agree
In Alejandro's first scene, you can hear women screaming right before he wakes up. A little audio foreshadowing.
the tighter shots in the final "stand off" from the balcony, Alejandro framed in a bright sky - his soul is clear & he is at peace with who he is and what he does, where as Kate is framed in the darkness of her balcony, she's forever tainted by these events and they will haunt her forever.
Nice catch. Wonder if they were able to film that entire scene from the table and outside in the same day.
Denis Villeneuve is one of the best directors on the planet.
Every movie of his is a masterclass. I personally put him above Nolan. The BEST current director on the planet
@@thecompanioncube4211 Nolan looks like a hack high school film director compared to Villeneuve
Making Prisoners, Sicario, Arrival, and Blade Runner 2049 one after the other is just amazing. He don't miss.
@@ADifferentVibe Dont forget the rebooted Dune movie too, another masterpiece of an adaptation.
This movie does a good job of making you feel tense and anxious the whole time you are watching it. The music is a big part of it. I also think all the kind of "B role" landscape shots make it feel slightly like a documentary which makes everything feel a little more real.
Sicario is one of my favorite movies of all time. Del Toro, Borlin and Blunt are all masterful in their acting. The score definitely gave you that impending doom feeling.
I live in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This film was shot here. The sunset in summer does look like that
This was one of Denis Vileneuve's best works as director. Ben Del Toro plays the wolf in this story and he was created by the cartel leader and he embraces that darkness without a single doubt and he would use any means he has to get his target and he did just that and Emily Blunt played her character to perfection and that is why she is one of the few actresses who can deliver a great performance in anything she plays and she has the heart to do it.
Sicario is one of my top 10 films and the truly terrifying thing is that this is the war on drugs in a nutshell and why it is scary what the cartel does to their foes and those who get in their way and why they need to be stopped as well. Also the ending when the wolf gives her an out and the gun he threatened her with had no bullets in the clip and she wanted to do it. But he knew that she wouldn't do it due to her integrity and that she would be doing him a favor as well. But like the cigarette she never finishes it.
Sicario was a masterclass. But the sequel fell short and didn't have the same level as the first one.
"This is going to be a messy web of stuff... and Im here for it" -BEST LINE EVER hahahaha
This is the first movie from Denis Villeneuve that I saw and it got me entirely hooked. He is a master
Arianna, I love your reactions, you really get what the director wants from an audience! You're the best thing on this channel!
Agree!!
It's quite a movie, the way it was built and as you said, the shots, the music, it's all part of the experience. There's not a whole lot of movies like this in terms of style but all of the movies from Denis Villeneuve that I've watched, they all have this element, some even have a more indy movie feel to them but that little something else is always there. A great reaction, I'm glad you were all for it. I don't know if you intend to watch the second movie, it's obviously not the same but I feel it's worth a watch. Thanks so much for this reaction!
I grew up in Albuquerque, my friends sister, who went to NM State in Las Cruces. We spent a spring break in Juarez. At the time, it was a great party city. I literally wandered the streets until I could find my hotel room at 4 in the morning. This was in the 90s . The people there were wonderful. It catered the college crowd. I prefer to remember that Juarez. That's the Juarez I know.
I went to train down in fort benning Georgia. A full combat loadout weighed about 80lbs, and it was an avg of 110°. With the gear on, it was around 135 body temp. It was so hot, the sweat would sweat.
Sicario and the sequel really hold you by the throat and don't let go
Hard enough to keep you in place, but light enough to keep you conscious so you watch everything unfold
11:00 to 11:15 is as legitimate of a reaction I’ve ever seen! Subscribed.
Love how you allow the movie to direct you emotionally!
Amazing movie on so many levels. Shout out to Taylor Sheridan. Guy has written some bangin movies and TV.
One of my favorite scenes is the very end where Kate points her weapon at Alejandro and he half turns…then he turns all the way to face her. Inviting her to shoot.
And he knows she won't, thus proving him right about her not being cut out for that kind of work
The soundtrack is a supporting character in this film.
I feel like this movie and Day of the Soldado are so under the radar, and that's such a shame. I don't know many people who even know about this movie, which sucks because both movies are two of the most incredible, beautifully written and executed pieces of cinema I've personally ever seen.
You want really under the radar? Check out Elite Squad (2007).
What a movie! That dark menacing soundtrack summed up the movie in your ears.
Benecio Del Toro was born for this movie, he excelled in his role, no other actor could have done it better.
Emily Blunt & Josh Brolin were brilliant to.
It's a movie that flew under the (tunnels) radar.
This movie is Taylor Sheridan writing. The dude is amazing. Check out Hell or High Water, Wind River, and the Sicario sequel. And after that, the Yellowstone TV series! You will not regret a bit
I absolutely LOVE that you're a reaction person that has not only common sense but actually comment intelligently!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So many are just depending on their personalities. They don't know who's who or what's what. Their comments show their ignorance of what they're even watching! It's so annoying. Yet, you actually GET IT!!! I swear, watching you watch this movie was like ME watching this movie. You appreciate the acting, the locations and even the score (one of my favorite). So, THANK YOU!!!
I see you watched part 2 as well. So, I'll check that out. Again, thanks for being smart when watching a movie.
“Wind River” would be an amazing react for Arianna, I’ve seen her love for “Prey” when it came out and wind river was written by the same person who wrote this film.
Was literally just about to comment this! Hope she reacts soon.
Wind River is a great movie. But that one you-know-what scene is a bit much, especially if a woman is reacting to it
@@SgtBagel32 it is an intense movie but she enjoys the Native American culture from what I seen, and to see a movie that shows people how natives suffer today, im sure she would love it.
Taylor Sheridan is such a top notch writer. Idk if this channel has covered it yet, but Hell or High Water was also written by him. Equally another fantastic film.
@@Treadston3 I know the Sheridan trilogy, it’s sicario, hell or high water, and wind river. Beautiful movies, but I believe this is the only movie so far that they covered.
Truly one of the most unappreciated movies of our time... I remember coming out of the theatre in just pure awe trying to process it all. The writing, directing and acting is all stellar.
I was born in El Paso. We crossed the Rio Grande many time on shopping trips when I was a kid in the late '60s to early '70s. My last trip there was in 73. The entire area has changed so much since those days.
This movie is in my top 20 all-time. As you stated so well, the interplay of tension surrounding the action and the slow musical build ups is forceful
and persistent. It's like being placed atop a high wire and being asked to stay there for a couple of hours. It also stars my fav actress Ms. Blunt and Benecio and
Josh are ruthless and necessary as she butts heads with them. What a movie.
Sicario is a masterpiece, it's one of those movies that I, and many other fans, pretend that it doesn't have a sequel, like with Pacific Rim.
The tension, the build up, the acting, the dialogue, etc., all top notch. One of my favorite thriller/crime movies of all time, like Seven (1995).
In 5-10 years time this film will go down as one of the best action films of the decade, much in the same way Heat was later realised as a masterpiece of the 90's
Great job of picking up the pieces. One of my favorite Directors
One of my favorite films. Great writing & execution on many levels...the cinematography (as you mentioned), acting, constant tension, & superb ominous soundtrack are such big standouts.
The shots of the landscapes and colorful dreamy skies are all too real to assume its anywhere but the southwest, no bs cg or color correcting the sunsets out here are something else
Been several years since I first saw this. Had to rewatch it myself before watching this reaction. Absolutely phenomenal still.
Shockingly good
Fun Fact: Josh Brolin play two Marvel characters: Cable & Thanos
Benicio Del Toro only plays one.
@@Diegesis and they play in the same movie - Infinity War :)
Thanks!
Denis Villeneuve is a god damn MASTER of movie making.
Every shot told a story of what was about to happen and makes the audience put the peices togethe. Like the entry to Juarez was empty but there was traffic on the way out
Most react channels annoy me cause they just watch movies and do not add anything. But you genuinely made me enjoy the movie as if I was watching it for the first time again.
Director is well known for documentaries that's why there are so many beautiful shots in the movie ..
The beautiful shots are cause of the dop being Roger deakins who's the best in the game and frequently works with the coen Brothers.
When I was in Iraq we had incidents like that bridge scene almost everyday. There were militia that would purposely follow us and watch our every move, sometimes they would take pot shots at us when we weren’t paying attention or leave fake IEDs in plain sight just to get us to leave the vehicle and investigate.
23:52 He is speaking to the outsiders of his team. They are a tier 1 spec ops unit (Think Delta, been a while since I saw the film). They see danger when somebody is not trained enough as well as them. That is why he is instructing them to follow their lead and don't f**k up, because it will cost their lives.
I really like that this lady loves the landscape shots. Like, finally somebody else is paying attention to the setting. I love seeing pretty movie setting. Not just the obvious, Like Pandora, from Avatar. The stuff to search for, like that telephone scene, when Al Pacino was calling from that phone booth. The setting was so pretty.
This film is really good at exploring the reality of good and evil, and how nothing is necessarily black and white. “ do you really want to make a difference or would you like to pretend like you’re making a difference” - A Matter of film ( video essay on sicario)
Denis Villeneuve should make all of the films.
Another really great film on this level is Steven Soderbergh's Traffic - again with Benicio del Toro, Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta Jones and Don Cheadle. Great film about drug traffic from four colliding story perspectives.
This is my favorite film from my favorite director. When a movie makes you think and ponder, and leaves you with a sense of awe you can't really explain, you know you just watched cinema gold.
30:47 he gave him a few seconds to feel the pain and despair
I would have waited more.
Such an epic movie. Del Toro shows why he's one of the best to ever do it.
#1 The Beast by Jóhann Jóhannsson is masterful music.
#2 Wind River, Sicario 1 & 2, Hell Or High Water, 1883.. certified bangers. Taylor Sheridan, king of modern day westerns.
Incendies next please! Villenueve is brilliant.
You've definitely gotta watch Wind River too. Fantastic film, written and directed by the writer of Sicario.
Fantastic pick Chad. This is a goodin’. It will b even better watching Arianna react.
The 2nd one (Sicario: Day of the Soldado) is pretty good too. Especially the last 5 minutes.
glad youre watching this🤙🏿 much love from texas
I remember me and my brothers going to eat at some restaurants in Juarez in the late 70s , pretty fun back then, wouldn’t venture over there now , thanks
You are literally my favourite reactor of the channel Arianna, please get your own channel, or appear more because I literally will never not watch your reactions. Positively the most genuine. Everybody else is great of course, but youre truly so empathetic and real.
She records often as she can. If she had her own channel she would record the exact same amount
Bro why aren’t you in the reactions anymore? I’m assuming it’s because you’ve seen these before?
@@Cert1f1edM1dget yes that is why but I'm gonna be in the discussions again soon
One of the things I love about living in this region is the skyline. I live in New mexico about 200 miles from El Paso and Juarez where a good portion of this movie was filmed. The skyline during our monsoon season really is that beautiful.
As far the movie goes, it barely even scratches the surface of just how f**ked the situation on the border is. It's dead accurate in it portrayal of the brutality of Mexican cartels. And our government does nothing to curb the crime out here. The cartel problem in mexico is directly connected to the immigration problem on our border. And most of the people who make it across are handled by members of the cartels on both sides of the border. They have to pay "insurances" to members of the cartels to ensure they (they're family members) stay alive. The whole situation is screwed.
Another Villeneuve, Deakins stone cold classic. A showcase on how to balance tension, pace & payoff.
That shot in the desert with the music sounds like Jaws with a bunch of sharks going sub-surface to hunt.
Dennis Villeneuve is certified genius. What a movie this is
“Not in front of my Children” kills the kids first 🤧🤝
The soundtrack to this film is perfect!
That career in criminology will be fascinating, in different ways depending on what part of it you get into. I'm a retired psychotherapist - I worked in the state prison system in that role, as a therapist and then as the clinical supervisor in the prison psych hospital that serves the entire state prison system here. It's the biggest psychiatric hospital in the state, which is a damning comment on our society's priorities - we had 104 beds, and always a waiting list.
I worked with quite a few murderers, some of them in gangs, one a serial killer. One way you can detect a psychopath - totally unscientific - is that when you find yourself sitting in a room with them and they're looking at you, the hair on the back of your neck stands up. They trigger intense dread and anxiety without you being able to point to anything they're doing to cause it. But it's like finding yourself inside a big cat's enclosure at a zoo with the cat staring at you.
One of my all time favorite movies. Absolutely brilliant
You missed an important point in the scene with the family at the dinner table. After the drug lord mentioned the assassin's wife, the assassin added that it was his daughter killed also. You see the drug lord's wife gasps and cringes. I believe that at that moment, she knows that it may not just be only her husband who may be killed.
I was just like you. I just bought it because it was $4.99 on Apple. Didn’t know what it was about. That first scene with the walls had me like whoa. THIS IS A TOUGH MOVIE. And I feel for Benicio a lot.
I always love the first scene they just hit us harder and harder with miss shot of shotgun to bodies in the wall and Boom Explosive out of nowhere in first 10 min "chef kiss" to this opening scene
Deakins shot this. Sir Roger Deakins to you! - No Country for Old Men (The Coen Brothers, Dir), Fargo (The Coen Brothers, Writter / Dir.) , Skyfall (Sam Mendes, Dir) ... He works with the Coehn Brothers and now Sam Mendez and Villeneuve. Roger Deakins say "no" to shooting standard coverage. He says yes to just shooting it for story.
I highly recommend Way of the Gun, it is sooooo good and Benicio Del Toro kills it in that movie as well.
One of the most raw movie ever made.
That music - “The Beast” which is what Juarez is called I think is brilliant
If I could have one piece of creative input into this film, I think ending the film at 33:29 with a cut to black screen would have been perfect.
She was told ‘never raise a weapon at me again’ and she does it here. We get a shot of him looking up at her and then a shot of her with a tear running down her cheek as she knows there’s no going back. It’d be a great cliffhanger. A ‘did he or didn’t he kill her’ scenario that fans could debate over.
She reminded him of his daughter if she had lived. Especially as he was coming out of nightmare on the plane and Kate genuinely asked if he was ok. That gave him a little humanity and he gave her a huge amount of leeway and understood that Kate before the knowledge she gained was also what he needed to fight for. Not just revenge.
I really enjoyed the last scene for that :D
Icelandic composer for the score. He sadly died short after this release. Phenomenal music and tension builder
23:35 Roger Deakins is a true artist.
One of my all times favourites. The level of tension as you found out is something else - loved your reaction. Hoping there is a third🤞
Benicio del Toro is one of the finest actors of the last fifty years, another outstanding performance in "Traffic" a must watch.
Diegesis: the finest crime drama movie ever made: "The French Connection", based on a true story, nominated for 30 movie industry awards, winning 18 awards, including Academy Awards for Best Picture (1972), Best Director (William Friedkin), Best Actor (Gene Hackman), The Motion Picture Editors Guild (2012) - the tenth best edited film of all time, and so on, buy this movie, steal it, rent it, but watch it.
The sound track in this film is awesome.
Mind you, they have CAG (Delta Force) tier one operators on the mission into Mexico. They’re the top SF group in the US Army branch, so them being used on this mission also shows how deadly the situation could become
I used to party in Juarez when I was in high school. It's always been sketchy. This is Juarez of the early 2000s. It's relatively safe, relatively. Just mind your own and know where you're going.
Remember watching this when it came out in the theathers, great movie
Such an amazing movie. It has some flaws in Law Enforcement tactics, but it does make for a better movie. The musical score and acting are so amazing. This is also my favorite Benicio del Toro performance. The last scene where he shows in a simple look that he doesn't care if he dies. So awesome. The tension is great throughout the movie.
The lighting in this film is spectacular
Wish they would make a prequel just to kind of see Alejandro with his family in Columbia and how it all went down just cartel on cartel violence through out
Roger Deakins should have gotten an oscar for cinematography on this among other films. So many snubs.
Watching your reaction helped me understand one premise in the movie. Brolin’s character chose her because she would be oblivious to the truth of the mission, but be easier to manipulate once she discovered it. Her partner would have discovered the truth faster and would have been harder to keep quiet because of his background.