Poster © Lionsgate. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreAction, Crime & Drama
RatedR
Runtime2 hr 1 min
ReleasedSeptember 18, 2015
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorDenis Villeneuve
StarringEmily Blunt, Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin
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Sicario (2015)
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| Sicario's Details | |
| Genre | Action, Crime & Drama |
| Rated | R |
| Released | 05/19/2015 (Cannes); 09/18/2015 (United States) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 2 hr 1 min |
| Budget | $30M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English, Spanish |
| Sicario's Interests | |
| General | Border crossings, convoys, desert sunsets, night-vision goggles, briefings that explain nothing. |
| Music | Jóhann Jóhannsson. The low, rumbling score feels like a heartbeat in a storm drain. |
| Movies | The 2018 sequel, Sicario: Day of the Soldado. Same desert, same dread. |
| Television | Narcos. The cartel wars, stretched across seasons. |
| Heroes | Kate Macer. The only person in the room asking if any of this is legal. |
| Sicario's Crew | |
| Director | Denis Villeneuve |
| Writers | Taylor Sheridan |
| Producers | Basil Iwanyk, Edward L. McDonnell, Molly Smith, Thad Luckinbill, Trent Luckinbill |
| Cinematography | Roger Deakins |
| Music | Jóhann Jóhannsson |
| Edited By | Joe Walker |
| Production | Black Label Media, Thunder Road |
| Distributed By | Lionsgate |
Top billing goes to Emily Blunt, and Sicario spends most of its runtime telling her nothing. That’s the point, but it also means the lead of the movie mostly reacts to men who know more than she does. She’s great at it. She just deserves more to do. Everything else is pure tension. Denis Villeneuve stages a convoy into Juárez and a traffic jam at the border that will make your palms sweat more than most action finales. Benicio del Toro barely raises his voice and is the scariest person in every room. Josh Brolin plays a government man so relaxed it’s suspicious. The score hums like something huge is coming down the hall. It made just $85 million worldwide on a reported $30 million budget, which is criminally low for something this good. An 8.7 because it’s a nerve-shredder that leaves you uneasy for days. $177 says you hit a traffic jam this week and start eyeballing every car around you.
What works: Villeneuve’s slow-burn tension, the border crossing sequence, and Benicio del Toro’s quiet, unsettling presence.
What doesn’t: Kate is the main character but has almost no say in the story, which makes the movie’s lead its most frustrating piece.
Who it’s for: Crime thriller fans who prefer dread to shootouts and don’t need a clean hero to root for.
Spoilers
Kate learns the task force was a cover to get Alejandro close to the cartel boss who killed his family, and she was only there to make it look legal. Alejandro finishes his mission, then forces Kate to sign off on all of it and leaves her powerless as he walks away.
FBI agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) leads kidnapping raids in Arizona, and after one goes badly wrong at a cartel house, she gets an unusual offer. Matt Graver (Josh Brolin), a laid-back government adviser who wears flip-flops to meetings, recruits her for a task force chasing the people responsible. Riding along is Alejandro (Benicio del Toro), a quiet consultant nobody will explain. Kate's partner Reggie (Daniel Kaluuya) does not love any of this. Their first trip takes them across the border into Juárez, and Kate quickly figures out the rules are not what she was told. Denis Villeneuve directs. One hundred twenty-one minutes of pure dread.
Anyone who reads the fine print before joining a task force. Ask more questions.
| Emily Blunt | Kate Macer |
| Benicio del Toro | Alejandro Gillick |
| Josh Brolin | Matt Graver |
| Daniel Kaluuya | Reggie Wayne |
| Victor Garber | FBI Special Agent in Charge |
| Jon Bernthal | Ted |
| Jeffrey Donovan | Steve Forsing |
| Raoul Trujillo | Rafael |
| Julio Cesar Cedillo | Fausto Alarcón |
| Hank Rogerson | Phil Coopers |
| Bernardo Saracino | Manuel Díaz |
| Maximiliano Hernández | Silvio |
| Edgar Arreola | Guillermo |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 17 October 2026 DataBot +480 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $85M; Domestic box office $46.9M; Opening weekend $401K; Profit / loss (est.) -$2.5M; Rotten Tomatoes 91%; CinemaScore A−; box office chart updated; Rotten Tomatoes critics 91% (279 reviews); Metacritic 82 / 100; CinemaScore A−; IMDb users 7.7 / 10 (552,622 votes); movie.guru score 8.6.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 17 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.