Three films in seven years is hardly prolific, but when the titles concerned are Blade Runner 2049 and parts one and two of Dune, you know you're in the hands of a director who takes his time. It's become Denis Villeneuve's trademark, filling epic canvasses with the richest of details, magnetic characters and breathtaking, often groundbreaking, effects. His films are truly a cinematic event.
The French-Canadian director cut his cinematic teeth making films in his native French, only changing to English in 2013 with two contrasting titles. In the low-key Enemy, Jake Gyllenhaal discovers he has a mysterious doppelganger, but crime thriller Prisoners arrived with a bang, pairing Gyllenhaal as a cop with Hugh Jackman as the tortured father of a missing six-year-old.
There was just one suspect, the creepy yet pathetic Paul Dano in one of his most memorable roles. The film was a taste of things to come from a director who was rapidly establishing himself. It was 2015’s ruthless and relentless Sicario, released on Netflix in the US on Saturday, March 1, which turned that promise into reality and marked him out as a filmmaking force. The pulsating thriller set on the Mexican border teamed him with another rising talent, writer Taylor Sheridan, and the result was an uncompromising, white knuckle ride with echoes of Michael Mann. Ideals are pitched against cynicism and justice goes head to head with revenge in a gripping tale that starts as it means to go on — with multiple dead bodies. At the centre is FBI agent Emily Blunt who is seconded from kidnap victim recovery duties to the war on drugs and, after the shock of discovering a cartel safe house full of corpses, agrees to go after the people behind the atrocity.
She acquires a new boss, Josh Brolin complete with unexpected flip-flops, while Benicio del Toro, appears to be his superior, even though he’s a consultant.
In a narrative with more hairpin bends than mere twists and turns, disturbing sequences are coupled with nerve-jangling photography from legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins. It's a film that relishes leading the audience in one direction, only to reveal they've been hoodwinked and that things are nowhere near what they seem. For the majority of the film, one character seems to be at the center of everything — and then the penny drops from a great height. It's typical of Villeneuve's storytelling, which has always leaned towards subtlety with a touch of the oblique.
The high-caliber cast delivers both individually and as an ensemble: Blunt defiantly struggles with her new surroundings and colleagues, Brolin is all swagger and arrogance and del Toro is quiet, courteous but weighed down by something in his past.
Sicario went on to be nominated for three Oscars, alongside nods from BAFTA, Cannes, Critics Choice and the PGA, while its Rotten Tomatoes score stands at an impressive 92%. Since the movie's release (Villeneuve handed over the directing reins to Stefano Sollima for the sequel, Sicario: Day Of The Soldado) he's remained in sci-fi territory with Arrival (2016), Blade Runner 2049 (2017) and the first two parts of Dune (2021 and 2024). Part three, currently known as Dune: Messiah, looks like landing towards the end of next year, although that's not set in stone.
Once again, he's taking his time and expectations will be sky-high but, given his track record, he won't disappoint and a huge event is very much on the cards. And it was a journey that started with Sicario.
Sicario has been added to Netflix in the US on Saturday, March 1, 2025. It's available to watch on Prime Video in the UK.
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