American Sicario Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		2.0

American Sicario Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 1, 2022

The very title of American Sicario seems to almost casually suggest it's a veritable knockoff of Sicario, and if it's therefore perhaps at least a little better at times than it has any right to be, it's still almost deliberately derivative, and weirdly not just with regard to its emphasis on drug cartels. As star Philippe A. Haddad and eventual screenwriter Rich Ronat get into in one of this disc's actually interesting supplements (this is one of those releases where the supplemental material may be just as if not more inviting than the actual feature), Haddad was being considered for some kind of comedy role when he offered a "demo reel" of sorts that featured his take on an American guy wanting to become head of a Mexican cartel, a story that evidently has at least one foot in supposed "ripped from the headlines" territory. Ronat fleshed out that idea, and that may have included the second major part of the film, a kind of almost sitcom-ish element featuring the family of this would be cartel mastermind. Erik (Philippe A. Haddad) is shown to be a vicious, cigar chomping madman in the film's opening scene, which rather graphically documents him killing two guys a competing cartel had sent to kill him. Later, Erik is shown having a supposedly sweeter side with his pregnant wife Gloria (Cali Morales), whose father Pedro (Danny Trejo) pays a visit and who may have a bit of experience in Erik's "line of work".

There's an undeniably visceral element to parts of American Sicario, especially as it documents the not very surprising but still disturbing moral degradation of Erik, which leads to predictably catastrophic results. But the film's emphasis on family, something that I guess is supposed to offer the same sort of "context" as, say, The Sopranos, comes off tonally as from a wholly different film. The result is kind of jarring, leaving the sad if expected conclusion kind of emotionally detached.

As a featurette about the cinematography gets into, American Sicario was shot under rather "compressed" conditions, with an 11 day production that required "get it now" over "get it right", but the kind of amazing thing about the film is that is actually manages to deliver a bit of style, even if both sides of its peculiar story have been told before, and more convincingly.

American Sicario Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

American Sicario is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. As cinematographer Pascal Combes-Knoke gets into in a featurette included on this disc, a quick shoot that was digitally captured by Arri cameras was blended with a scan of 35mm film emulsion to supposedly give this a more organic, "filmic" appearance. If the results aren't completely convincing, they actually help to give this presentation a bit of texture and more depth than the sometimes glossy, flat confines of digital capture can. Despite a brief eleven day shooting schedule, there's quite a bit of sweep to the proceedings, and it's typically very well represented by this transfer. The emphasis on ochres, beiges and tans, something that automatically makes it reminiscent of Sicario itself, is nicely gradated here, and fine detail on everything from landscapes to the luxe environments Erik and his family inhabit tends to be excellent. There are some very brief flirtations with banding on a few fade ins and/or outs with wide open desert skies filling the frame.

American Sicario Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

American Sicario features a nice sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that offers effective if intermittent surround activity in some of the outdoor moments in particular. There are some very well placed and maybe even slightly disturbing sound effects throughout the film, as in the early sequence where Erik shoots two men. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly. There are optional English subtitles for the entire film, but also default subtitles for some Spanish language moments.

American Sicario Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Actors Philippe A. Haddad and Maurice Compte, Cinematographer Pascal Combes-Knoke and Producer Ross Campbell


• The Family You Choose: Making American Sicario (HD; 22:35) is an above average featurette which gets into the genesis of the project and how its emphasis on family supposedly sets it apart from other crime dramas.


• The Art of the Possible: The Look of American Sicario (HD; 8:14) is an appealing interview with cinematographer Pascal Combes-Knoke, who wins today's Best Name for a Cinematographer Award.

Additionally, a digital copy is included.

American Sicario Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I actually started watching American Sicario with some preconceptions about how obviously derivative it was going to have to be with a title like that. The film therefore may have surprised me at least a little in some of its aspects, though really neither the drug cartel angle nor the family dynamic element are handled with any real innovation. The film does offer a bit of style along the way, which is generally well delivered on this Blu-ray, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.