SICARIO Explained | Everything YOU Missed!
In today's video, I do a deep dive into both the SICARIO script and film to cover all the relevant details and explain exactly how everything went down. SICARIO explained!

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================ PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT ========================
What is Sicario all about? What’s the structure of the film? What character arcs appear in the film? And what’s the overall premise of Sicario?

Alejandro—who’s played by Benicio Del Toro—Alejandro is the sicario. If you’ve seen the film, you probably knew that already, but I’ll explain all the reasons why throughout this show. Just know that Alejandro is the title character of this film.

In today’s video, I’m breaking down Denis Villaneuve’s 2015 film, Sicario.

Whenever I do these “explained” videos I really study the film and–if it’s available–I read the film’s screenplay.

Sicario’s script—written by Taylor Sheridan of Yellowstone fame—has a completely different opening scene.

ACT 1 starts with a SWAT/FBI raid of a house in Chandler, AZ.

Kate accuses Matt of being in the CIA. She decides to go with them.

Kate making the decision to go on the mission and operate outside of her jurisdiction—in my opinion—is Plot Point 1.

At the start of ACT 2, the task force heads into Juarez via a convoy of black SUVs. Kate’s in the same vehicle as Alejandro.

When they travel deeper into Juarez, they get a local police escort.

The convoy picks up their target, Manuel Diaz’s brother Guillermo Diaz.

The implication is that the U.S. can’t fight the cartels legally, and this engagement is more like war than it is like law enforcement.

Alejandro interrogates Guillermo, and the implication is that he tortures him… and probably kills him without getting any significant information.

Matt reveals: “We are going to make enough noise that Manuel Diaz is called back to Mexico to see his boss.”

Kate entering the bank and the freezing of Manuel Diaz’s bank accounts, in my opinion, both serve as the Midpoint of the film.

Why? Because this is Kate’s biggest mistake.

The special forces, along with Kate, Reggie, Alejandro, and Matt prep to launch their attack on the cartel’s drug-smuggling tunnel. They note that Manuel Diaz has been called back to Mexico.

The entire reason Kate has been involved? It allows Matt—a confirmed CIA agent—to do whatever he wants.

Three things are now happening all at once:

The special ops team is headed into Mexico to attack the tunnel.
Manuel Diaz is driving back to Mexico.
The cop from Nogales with the son who likes soccer—I referenced him earlier—he heads to the tunnels to drop off a shipment of drugs to be smuggled through the tunnel into the U.S.

They were trying to plant Alejandro in Mexico. Why? Because Alejandro—the real sicario, the real hitman—is on a solo mission to kill Manuel Diaz and Fausto Alarcon.

Kate discovering that Alejandro is on a separate mission to find and murder Fausto Alarcon is Plot Point 2.

And the CIA—via Matt and now Kate—is making it happen. It’s like regime change, but in cartel terms. And that’s obviously horrible for the FBI to get involved in. It’s super illegal.

The next sequence of scenes follows Alejandro as he forces Manuel Diaz to take him to Fausto.

Kate wants to bring down the Sonora Cartel legally.
Matt wants to bring down the Sonora Cartel by any means necessary while working to fix the chaos by reinstating the Medellin Cartel.
Alejandro wants to murder the leaders of the Sonora Cartel who killed his wife and daughter.

Kate and Alejandro are pawns in a game wherein the U.S. wants to maintain order. It’s as simple as that.

The U.S. has a strategic interest in maintaining power and order—because that keeps Americans safe. But those interests aren’t pure or just, they’re only strategic.

What’s the Premise of the film? You can’t fight evil with evil and expect justice.

Said differently, the Premise of Sicario is: Corrupt pursuit of justice only results in more corruption.