“In Mexico, Sicario means hitman,” as the trailer opens. The film centers around an idealistic FBI agent named Kate (Blunt) who is called up by an elite government task force officer (Brolin) to help in the escalating war against drugs in a lawless border area between the United States and Mexico. As Kate is further exposed to the merciless world of the international drug trade, she finds herself questioning everything she once believed in. Del Toro, going back into the similar milieu of 2000’s Traffic, a role in which he won an Academy Award, portrays a consultant with a questionable past. Jon Berenthal (Fury), Victor Garber (Argo) and Jeffrey Donovan (Changeling) co-star. Sicario marked the first produced screenplay for Taylor Sheridan, who has an actor has recurred on hit television shows including Sons of Anarchy and Veronica Mars.
One story that has sparked interest stemming from Sicario‘s world premiere is that apparently producers of the film at one point wanted Sheridan to re-write the screenplay with a male lead instead of a female one. Villeneuve confirmed this, stating that the gender switch was discussed about before he signed on the project and likely before Blunt had showcased formidable action skills in the 2013 film Edge of Tomorrow opposite Tom Cruise. As is, the film earned decent early reviews out of Cannes with Variety‘s Scott Foundas writing, “Director Denis Villeneuve returns with a blisteringly suspenseful, ever surprising cartel thriller.”
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