Without Remorse (2021) - Movie Review

The second team-up between Italian crime aficionado Stefano Sollima and revisionist Western master Taylor Sheridan finds them both dealing with familiar territory, while also refining their approach from Sicario: Day Of The Soldado. Like Soldado, it is a particularly grim look at American military efforts, and like the original Sicario, a lot of it focuses on how one soldier becomes twisted at the whims of their handlers.

Sicario: Day Of The Soldado (2018) - Movie Review

The plot: After discovering a possible link between the Mexican cartels controlling the U.S./Mexico border and a string of stateside terrorist attacks, the U.S. government is prepared to take special measures to control the problem. To that ends, CIA agent Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) brings Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro) in to create some chaos among the cartels and, hopefully, put a stop to the terrorists they're smuggling across the border.

Wind River (2017) - Movie Review

The plot: Wildlife tracker Cory (Jeremy Renner), while on a routine hunt, discovers the body of a dead Native America woman in the snow. As she alerts the residents of the surrounding reservation of Wind River, in particular the victim’s father Martin (Gil Birmingham), FBI agent Jane (Elizabeth Olsen) is brought in to help with the investigation. As she and Cory try to figure who was responsible for the death, they are confronted with just how dangerous this land can be.

Hell Or High Water (2016) - Movie Review

Last year, one of the bigger critical successes was the harrowing war thriller Sicario. It also represented one of the few times when I met the critical consensus not just in opinion, but in the magnitude of that opinion. Sicario, structurally, was easily the best film of the year and all of its individual pieces were genius on their own and created sheer magic when brought together. Since almost everyone involved already laudable careers to fall back on, I sincerely hoped that writer Taylor Sheridan would also stick around. I mean, if that was his first attempt, I legitimately can’t wait to see what he’s cooked up for us this time.

Sicario (2015) - Movie Review

In today’s day and age where people have grown more and more sceptical of their nation’s military and government (rightfully so, in most regards), the question of how they justify their actions has grown in poignancy. This is especially true in the world of entertainment, where the times when propaganda pieces about the 'Red Menace' are long since behind us. There’s a reason why action films involving soldiers rescuing hostages in foreign jungle settings aren’t nearly as prevalent, and it’s not just because they mostly suck the big one: Violence with lack of justification, when it comes to government-sanctioned officers, isn’t nearly as accepted as it once mystifyingly was. One look at the works of Kathryn Bigelow and Clint Eastwood will see this mindset in full force, where actions are constantly brought into question and that lingering question hangs over everyone’s heads. Today, it’s time to dip into that pool once again.