Sicario

During an FBI SWAT raid of suspected kidnappers in Chandler, Arizona, idealistic agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt), her partner Reggie Wayne (Daniel Kaluuya), and their team discover dozens of corpses hidden within the walls of the house. While the team investigates the crime scene, an improvised explosive device in the backyard shed explodes, killing two officers. Afterwards, Kate's boss, Dave Jennings (Victor Garber), recommends her to Matt Graver (Josh Brolin), a CIA Special Activities Division undercover officer and Department of Defense adviser leading a team of Delta Force operators searching for the men responsible, including cartel hitman Manuel Díaz. Kate volunteers to join the team. On the plane to El Paso, Texas, Kate meets Matt's partner, Alejandro Gillick (Benicio del Toro), and learns that they are going to Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico (across the border from El Paso), where they will extradite one of Diaz's top men, his brother Guillermo. While crossing back into the United States over the Bridge of the Americas, Matt, Alejandro, and their team realize that cartel men are attempting to intercept them in a traffic jam, and the team kills them when they attempt to capture Guillermo. After interrogating and torturing Guillermo, Matt and Alejandro learn the location of Díaz's hideout. Alejandro, Matt, and Kate return to Arizona, where Reggie drives them to a Border Patrol station to question a group of Mexican migrants for information. Tired of being kept in the dark about the greater objectives of the mission, Reggie and Kate confront Alejandro and Matt for an explanation. Matt tells them that their goal is to cause such a disruption in Díaz's drug operations that he will be called back to Mexico to meet with his boss, drug lord Fausto Alarcón (Julio Cedillo). With the help of several migrants who know the border well, the team discovers the whereabouts of a tunnel that the cartel uses to get its drugs into the United States. The team follows Díaz's money launderers to a bank where they make arrests and freeze his accounts. Despite Matt's protests that they are working toward a greater goal than arresting Díaz, Kate gathers records and tells Jennings that they constitute probable cause. Jennings sides with the officials who outrank him and tries to assuage Kate's fears of legal repercussions. Frustrated with the way Matt and Alejandro work, Reggie and Kate visit a bar for drinks. Reggie introduces Kate to one of his buddies, a local cop named Ted (Jon Bernthal). After a night of drinking and dancing, Ted and Kate end up back at her apartment, where she discovers a rubber wristband in his possession—the same type used to bundle Díaz's laundered money. Sensing that she knows he is corrupt, Ted struggles to subdue her and nearly chokes her to death. Alerted by the noise, Alejandro stops him at gunpoint and beats him up. After Alejandro and Matt threaten the lives of Ted and his family, he reveals the names of other local corrupt cops working for Díaz. The next morning, Matt and his team prepare to follow Díaz, who has been called back to Alarcón. Kate protests that the FBI does not have jurisdiction in Mexico and learns that she and Reggie are no longer needed; the FBI agents were attached to the team purely to give the CIA the legal ability to operate within US borders. Reggie tells Kate they should leave the operation, as they were being used from the beginning, but Kate wishes to see things through to the end. Their raid on the tunnel serves as a distraction so that Alejandro can sneak through to the Mexican side. Once there, he kidnaps one of Díaz's mules, a corrupt Mexican police officer named Silvio (Maximiliano Hernández). Kate follows and attempts to arrest Alejandro, who shoots her in her bulletproof vest and tells her to return to the United States. Threatening Silvio at gunpoint, Alejandro forces him to pursue Díaz in his Mexican police car. Meanwhile, Kate demands answers from Matt, who explains that their goal is to bring about some semblance of order by restoring power to the Colombian Medellín Cartel. Kate asks if Alejandro works for Medellín and Matt states that he works for anyone who can help him avenge his murdered wife and daughter. Alejandro, with Silvio driving, catches up with and stops Díaz's Mercedes, after which Alejandro kills Silvio and wounds Díaz. Díaz then drives Alejandro to Alarcón's estate, where Alejandro kills Díaz and Alarcón's guards before finding Alarcón eating dinner with his wife and two sons. Alarcón says that what happened to Alejandro's family was not personal. Alejandro explains that it was personal to him, and then kills Alarcón's family in front of him before killing Alarcón. The next morning, Alejandro sneaks into Kate's apartment and gives her a waiver to sign, stating that everything they did together was "by the book." Kate eventually relents after Alejandro puts a gun to her head. Alejandro tells Kate she should find a small town that still obeys the rule of law because she is "not a wolf," and her town has become a "land of wolves." After he leaves, Kate goes to her balcony, points her gun at him and hesitates. He turns around, but then continues to walk when she does not shoot. Sometime later at a football field in Mexico, Silvio's widow watches her son's soccer game, which is briefly interrupted by gunfire in the distance. However, despite this, the soccer game continues on as normal.