With the recent release of the acclaimed Dune: Part Two, Denis Villeneuve has become one of the most respected and popular filmmakers working in Hollywood. Even outside of his time on the desert planet of Arrakis, Villeneuve is well-known for his work in the sci-fi genre, making movies like Arrival in 2016 and the underrated Blade Runner 2049 in 2017. Villeneuve, however, has also made a number of more grounded films to great success.

The French Canadian writer/ director released Prisoners in 2013, for example, a crime thriller starring Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal. This grounded and harrowing film paved the way for another down-to-earth movie several years later, which trades a contained story of one man seeking the truth regarding his daughter’s kidnapping for a nation-spanning tale involving special operations soldiers and the war on drugs.

Sicario Earns A Middling Accuracy Score From Firearms Expert

The Denis Villeneuve Movie Makes Some Mistakes

Firearms expert and former Special Operations soldier Patrick McNamara analyzes Sicario
and points out several areas where the Villeneuve movie falls short. Released in 2015, Villeneuve’s follow-up to Prisoners and Enemy stars Emily Blunt as Kate Macer, an FBI agent who joins a government task force to combat cartel operations at the border between the U.S. and Mexico. Sicario earned glowing reviews and was a box office success, with particular praise levied at several of the film’s high-tension action scenes, including one that takes place at night in and around a tunnel network.

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In a recent video for Insider, McNamara breaks down Sicario‘s nighttime tunnel raid, revealing that the film – and Blunt – make several mistakes. The firearms expert first points out that the soldiers should be using some kind of illuminator or laser on their weapons in combination with their night vision goggles, but he also takes issue with aspects of Blunt’s weapon handling within the tunnels themselves. Check out McNamara’s analysis below as well as his score for the sequence out of 10:

One of the things that bothers me about this clip is the use of firearms in the dark. They all have NODs on, right? Night observation devices. None of these folks, none of them, from what I saw, had any kind of illuminator on their rifle itself. So you’re basically firing indiscriminately.

It’s a huge battlefield multiplier and I’m surprised they didn’t put any in here. I think they’re supposed to be special ops troops, they’re not in the business of indiscriminate fire. They have to be able to shoot with impunity – it’s their job, that’s what they get paid the big bucks for.

She’s in the line of fire, her rifle gets shot and now she has to transition to her pistol. That never happened to me, ever, but I do know two guys that that’s happened to, getting shot right in the rifle and it rendered that rifle inoperable.

When she transitioned from rifle to pistol, I thought the grip was pretty good. It was a good solid grip. It was full extension, which… when you’re moving forward, probably not full extension like this. You want to bring it in a little bit to create a shock absorber of sorts because if it’s at full extension, when you’re moving you’re going to create a pendulum of sorts and it’s going to bounce up and down […]

I would rate this clip for realism a six [out of 10]. I thought the gun techniques were not great, not good, right above average.

What Sicario’s Accuracy Score Means For The Movie

The Film Didn’t Need Perfect Accuracy To Succeed

As seen in the chart below, Sicario was a success with critics and audiences alike. The film, which was written by Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan, was widely praised for Villeneuve’s directing and for its exploration of morally ambiguous subject matter. The action sequences, too, were a point of praise, as they were all extremely intense and they felt realistic.

The film earned several nominations at the Oscars, including Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and Best Sound editing. In addition to its critical success, Sicario was also a box office win, grossing $84.8 million worldwide on a $30 million budget, paving the way for sequel Sicario: Day of the Soldado three years later. There’s also been talk of a potential Sicario 3.

The fact that Sicario may feature some inaccuracies is ultimately not likely to drastically affect the movie’s reputation as a success. Most viewers, after all, wouldn’t notice these inaccuracies to begin with, and the movie feeling realistic is ultimately more important than it actually being so. Still, McNamara’s analysis of Sicario remains interesting and worthwhile as an exercise, and it sheds further light on the movie-making process and the relationship between artistry and realism.

Will Sicario 3 Ever Happen?

Why There Are Reasons To Be Doubtful

Franchise producer Trent Luckinbill has confirmed that Sicario 3 is a possibility, though the project has seemingly been unable to advance beyond early development. There have been reports that a third film would bring Blunt back as Kate, reuniting the trio from the original movie, which includes Josh Brolin as Matt Graver and Benicio Del Toro as Alejandro. Blunt herself revealed earlier this year, however, that she hasn’t seen a script for Sicario 3, and she called the entire project “hearsay.”

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Sicario 3 Will Fix The Sequel’s Biggest Mistake (& Bring Back What Made Villeneuve’s Movie So Good)

2015’s Sicario was a success and led to a 2018 sequel. With Sicario 3 in development, there’s hope that it will recapture the first movie’s success.

Part of the reason why a third film may be taking so long to get off the ground is the fact that Day of the Soldado wasn’t as big of a hit as the original movie. As seen in the chart above, the sequel failed to match the original both critically and at the box office, despite featuring an increased budget. Made at $35 million, Day of the Soldado may have been looking at a break-even point of between $70 million and $87.5 million.

The fact that Luckinbill and the franchise’s producers are looking to make a third film suggests the sequel did reach profitability in the end, but a third movie still looks like a financial risk. Plus, after sitting out the sequel, it’s unlikely Villeneuve would return to direct Sicario 3, which is a major blow. Given Sheridan’s work in the Yellowstone universe and beyond, it’s also not clear if he will have time to write the script anytime soon. For now, though, the original Sicario remains a movie worth revisiting.

Source: Insider

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Sicario

Sicario is an action crime thriller from director Denis Villeneuve. The film stars Emily Blunt as Kate Macer, an FBI agent who is recruited to help Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) and Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro) in the war on drugs that is escalating on the US and Mexican border. The film was praised upon its release and nominated for three Oscars, which led to a sequel, Sicario: Day of the Soldado, in 2018.

Release Date

October 2, 2015

Runtime

121 Minutes

Writers

Taylor Sheridan

Budget

$30 million

Distributor(s)

Sony
, Lionsgate

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