Keeping viewers on edge

A DEEP sense of dread permeates every scene in Sicario, a brutally intense thriller about the war on drugs being fought on both sides of the border between the United States and Mexico.

Directed by Denis Villeneuve from a script by Taylor Sheridan, the film depicts in graphic detail the dangers faced by law enforcement officials trying to stem the flow of drugs into the US, and the morally ambiguous territory they navigate while doing so.

French-Canadian filmmaker Villeneuve (Incendies, 2011; Prisoners, 2013) has a talent for taut dramas with complex moral issues at their core and his latest offering is one of t…