More or less finished with the 2014 movies, so I've started on 2015.
Sicario ... didn't like this one. It's a variation on War Porn. Instead of battling A-rabs, the enemy is a Mexican drug lord. The movie is two hours long (meaning at least 20 to 30 minutes too long), and for the first hour you have no idea what's going on. The lead actress, a fashion model who has somehow become an FBI agent, also has no idea what's going on so you're as frustrated as she is.
There's a ridiculous and unnecessary road trip into Mexico to bring back "Guillermo," a brother? of the head honcho. Why not fly him over the border? The only purpose it serves is to stage this gun battle in stop-and-go traffic where a bunch of heavily tattoo'd Mexicans are blown away by Delta Force, or some Special Ops unit (just back from Afghanistan, of course ... I told you it was War Porn). Cut that whole section out and the movie would be shorter and no worse than it already is.
Anyway, the awful thing about this movie (like all War Porn) is that it doesn't just condone extra-legal means to an end, it glorifies them ... invasion, kidnapping, torture, assassination. It's morally reprehensible and rubs your face in it.
(A few logical quibbles for those who have seen it (spoilers): How does Benicio know which tunnel to go up? How does he know the corrupt cop will be delivering a load then? How does he know the little jefe will be traveling on a road near the tunnel at exactly the time he commandeers the cop car? Why does he kill a minor character like the crooked cop? Why does the big jefe only have five bodyguards around the house? And no dogs? How is Benicio able to shoot that accurately that consistently? Why are all CIA agents in the movies flip-flop wearing smartasses? And what's with the final scene? The violence continues, nothing has changed ... is that the point?)
Another viewer agrees ... "I left the film sickened and scrambled..." A.O. Scott also not thrilled: "... less an exploration than an exploitation of the moral ambiguities of the drug war."
