Sicario

"Chilly Canadian director Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners, Incendies) may not seem the obvious choice to helm a hot-blooded action thriller. And English rose Emily Blunt couldn’t have been top of anyone's list to play its ass-kicking all-American heroine. But the ambitiousness of the match fits the ambitiousness of the movie. Even the title (it means “hitman” in Spanish) shows the film-makers are thinking differently. Plus, it sounds really cool."

"The kind of creeping tension that coils around the audience like a snake suffocating its prey."

"Denis Villeneuve takes on the Mexican drug trade in this stern, robust, abandon-hope-all-ye-who-enter thriller."

"Blunt’s performance has an edge of steel. She brings off a mix of confidence, bewilderment and vulnerability, which functions very well against the alpha male characters higher up the chain of command."

"The Oscar race starts here."

"Powerful and superbly made..."

"This very accomplished, expertly written and acted drama drives home its point in subtle, yet forceful fashion."

"A beautifully murky, hard-edged thriller. Quite simply, one of the best films of the year."