Directed by Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners, Enemy) and starring Emily Blunt (Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Into the Woods, The Devil Wears Prada, Edge of Tomorrow, The Adjustment Bureau, Sunshine Cleaning), Josh Brolin (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Milk, No Country for Old Men, Guardians of the Galaxy, Men in Black 3), Jon Bernthal (Traffic, 21 Grams, The Usual Suspects, Snatch), Benicio Del Toro (The Wolf of Wall Street, The Ghost, Snitch, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl) and Daniel Kaluuya (Johnny English Reborn, Kick-Ass 2).

Action drama; 121 minutes; 16+

An intense thriller, following Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) as an FBI officer who wants to play by the book. She is volunteered for a covert operation organised by a government task force and involving the CIA, and others, to bring down those responsible for a cross-border drugs smuggling operation from Mexico. However, she is told very little and wonders about the real reason for her involvement.

With superb cinematorgraphy, in particular of the US-Mexico border, and a slow build-up, the film does have its high share of violence and brutality. It also portrays the lawnessness of this region and the effect it has on the lives of the people living there. But are some of the US law enforcers taking the law into their own hands in order to try to achieve their ultimate aim? But what is the aim and whose aim exactly is it?
The audience is left in as much dark as Kate Macer is, and this certainly adds to the suspense as details of the clandestine operation become clear bit-by-bit.

Superbly told but not for the faint-hearted.