With Queen of the South, Narcos, and Breaking Bad a distant memory, SPYSCAPE needed a fresh injection of crime thrillers to fill the void. These 15 series and movies will keep you in the danger zone.
MOVIES
Sicario (2015)
FBI agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) is recruited by Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) for a task force in the war on drugs but what’s really going on in Sicario? Led by an intense Alejandro (Benicio del Toro), the team travels back and forth across the US-Mexican border using a cartel boss (Bernardo Saracino) to flush out a bigger fish (Julio Cesar Cedillo). Gritty and compelling, director Denis Villeneuve recalled a research trip where he crossed the border with two federales (federal agents) with machine guns on their laps. Don’t miss the sequel. Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018). (Apple TV, Netflix, YouTube, Google Play, Prime Video, Sky Story, Microsoft, Chili)
Traffic (2000)
America's war on drugs is told through interconnected stories in Traffic: Ohio's Supreme Court judge is appointed as the nation's drug tsar, unaware that his daughter is a heroin addict, two DEA agents pursue the wife of a jailed drug baron, and a Mexican cop takes a lone stand against powerful cartels. The film stars Benicio del Toro, Michael Douglas, and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Steven Soderbergh’s interlocking movie is a damning portrayal of the “war on drugs”. (Prime Video, Apple TV, Microsoft, Sky Store)
Scarface (1983)
Tony Montana (Al Pacino) becomes the biggest drug lord in Florida but not without pressure from the police and Colombian drug cartels. Michelle Pfeiffer in her breakout role plays Montana’s wife. The pace is frenzied at times - perhaps reflecting writer Oliver Stone’s state of mind. Reportedly, Stone had a bit of a problem with cocaine before he wrote Scarface and even based some of the film on his own experiences. (Amazon Prime, Netflix, YouTube, Apple TV)
No Country for Old Men (2007)
Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) finds the grisly aftermath of a drug deal while out hunting and can’t resist the cash. The hunter becomes the hunted when a killer named Chigurh (Javier Bardem) picks up his trail. Tommy Lee Jones stars as Sheriff Bell, a lawman with a dark secret of his own. The Cohen Brothers were adamant about having Bardem star, although the actor was reluctant to accept, telling them, "I don't drive, I speak bad English, and I hate violence." Keep an eye out for the Mexican border scene - actually filmed on a freeway overpass in Las Vegas.
Blow (2001)
Johnny Depp stars in Blow, a high-octane look at the ‘70s international drug trade which was fast, violent, lucrative, and deadly. Depp stars as George Jung, a high-school football star who claims to have become the world's premiere importer of cocaine from Colombia's Medellin cartel, changing the course of a generation. But what goes up must come down. The question is how low can George go? The film is much criticized for its bloopers but it’s worth the effort for Depp’s performance and for the late Ray Liotta of Goodfellas fame.
Desperado (1995)
Former musician and gunslinger El Mariachi arrives at a small Mexican border town after being away and his past catches up with him. He becomes entangled with the local drug kingpin and his gang. Desperado is Salma Hayek’s breakout film. She was so terrified about shooting the love scene she burst into tears and kept thinking about her father and brother. “I was not letting go of the towel,” she said. Starring Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Joaquim de Almeida, and Cheech Marin.
Miss Bala (2011)
Gloria (Gina Rodriguez), a makeup artist from Los Angeles, seeks help from the police when cartel hit men kidnap her friend from a nightclub in Mexico. When a corrupt cop hands her over to the same criminals who shot up the place, their gang leader, Lino, decides to use Gloria to avoid DEA detection. Almost 90 percent of Rotten Tomato viewers rated it highly so stream it and decide for yourself. (Netflix, Paramount Plus)
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With Queen of the South, Narcos, and Breaking Bad a distant memory, SPYSCAPE needed a fresh injection of crime thrillers to fill the void. These 15 series and movies will keep you in the danger zone.
MOVIES
Sicario (2015)
FBI agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) is recruited by Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) for a task force in the war on drugs but what’s really going on in Sicario? Led by an intense Alejandro (Benicio del Toro), the team travels back and forth across the US-Mexican border using a cartel boss (Bernardo Saracino) to flush out a bigger fish (Julio Cesar Cedillo). Gritty and compelling, director Denis Villeneuve recalled a research trip where he crossed the border with two federales (federal agents) with machine guns on their laps. Don’t miss the sequel. Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018). (Apple TV, Netflix, YouTube, Google Play, Prime Video, Sky Story, Microsoft, Chili)
Traffic (2000)
America's war on drugs is told through interconnected stories in Traffic: Ohio's Supreme Court judge is appointed as the nation's drug tsar, unaware that his daughter is a heroin addict, two DEA agents pursue the wife of a jailed drug baron, and a Mexican cop takes a lone stand against powerful cartels. The film stars Benicio del Toro, Michael Douglas, and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Steven Soderbergh’s interlocking movie is a damning portrayal of the “war on drugs”. (Prime Video, Apple TV, Microsoft, Sky Store)
Scarface (1983)
Tony Montana (Al Pacino) becomes the biggest drug lord in Florida but not without pressure from the police and Colombian drug cartels. Michelle Pfeiffer in her breakout role plays Montana’s wife. The pace is frenzied at times - perhaps reflecting writer Oliver Stone’s state of mind. Reportedly, Stone had a bit of a problem with cocaine before he wrote Scarface and even based some of the film on his own experiences. (Amazon Prime, Netflix, YouTube, Apple TV)
No Country for Old Men (2007)
Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) finds the grisly aftermath of a drug deal while out hunting and can’t resist the cash. The hunter becomes the hunted when a killer named Chigurh (Javier Bardem) picks up his trail. Tommy Lee Jones stars as Sheriff Bell, a lawman with a dark secret of his own. The Cohen Brothers were adamant about having Bardem star, although the actor was reluctant to accept, telling them, "I don't drive, I speak bad English, and I hate violence." Keep an eye out for the Mexican border scene - actually filmed on a freeway overpass in Las Vegas.
Blow (2001)
Johnny Depp stars in Blow, a high-octane look at the ‘70s international drug trade which was fast, violent, lucrative, and deadly. Depp stars as George Jung, a high-school football star who claims to have become the world's premiere importer of cocaine from Colombia's Medellin cartel, changing the course of a generation. But what goes up must come down. The question is how low can George go? The film is much criticized for its bloopers but it’s worth the effort for Depp’s performance and for the late Ray Liotta of Goodfellas fame.
Desperado (1995)
Former musician and gunslinger El Mariachi arrives at a small Mexican border town after being away and his past catches up with him. He becomes entangled with the local drug kingpin and his gang. Desperado is Salma Hayek’s breakout film. She was so terrified about shooting the love scene she burst into tears and kept thinking about her father and brother. “I was not letting go of the towel,” she said. Starring Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Joaquim de Almeida, and Cheech Marin.
Miss Bala (2011)
Gloria (Gina Rodriguez), a makeup artist from Los Angeles, seeks help from the police when cartel hit men kidnap her friend from a nightclub in Mexico. When a corrupt cop hands her over to the same criminals who shot up the place, their gang leader, Lino, decides to use Gloria to avoid DEA detection. Almost 90 percent of Rotten Tomato viewers rated it highly so stream it and decide for yourself. (Netflix, Paramount Plus)
Before The Queen of the South, the Spanish-language La Reina del Sur starred Kate del Castillo as a young woman who becomes the most powerful drug trafficker in southern Spain. The Mexican actress isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty from time to time either. In 2015, del Castillo brokered an interview between drug lord ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán and actor Sean Penn, finding herself at the center of a Mexican government investigation but she’s come a long way. “I felt so dumb by being played by this character, [Sean] Penn, that I wish I was wiser in that way - not so naive.” (USA's sister network Telemundo, YouTube)
Ozark (2017-2022)
The unforgettable cast of Ozark almost didn’t make it onto the screen. Jason Bateman (Marty Byrde) was intrigued by the chance to direct the first season (he ended up directing only the first two and last two episodes). Laura Linney, who plays his onscreen wife Wendy, was also hesitant about signing up to a series, but the opportunity to work with Bateman was too good to turn down. They were coached by an FBI agent who investigates money laundering, picking his brain for a day to ensure the plot lines were plausible. Pay attention to the title sequence of each episode for clues about what to expect from each show. (Netflix)
Breaking Bad (2008-2013)
If you haven’t yet seen Breaking Bad, what are you waiting for? Run - don’t walk - to your favorite streaming channel and get going. Bryan Cranston stars as a high school chemistry teacher dying of cancer who teams with a former student to make and sell crystal meth to ensure his family’s financial security. Cranston said the one scene that really shook him involved Walter White watching Jane struggle from a drug overdose while she lay next to Jesse Pinkman. You'll also don’t want to check out creator: Vince Gilligan’s El Camino. (Netflix, Prime Video, Google Play, YouTube)
Better Call Saul (2015-2022)
Better Call Saul isn’t just a Breaking Bad spin-off, it is a triumphant, compelling, and classic series in its own right starring Bob Odenkirk as lovable, despicable lawyer Saul Goodman. Odenkirk had a heart attack while filming Better Call Saul's final season but nothing could keep him away. The series wrapped in 2022, leaving us wanting more of Jimmy McGill / Saul, secret codes, and Cinnabons. Keep an eye out for Michael McKean, Jimmy’s brother Chuck, also known as the lead singer in the cult 1984 rockumentary, This is Spinal Tap. (Netflix, Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, YouTube)
Narcos(2015-2017)
The gritty true story of Pablo Escobar and Colombia's violent drug cartels stars Wagner Moura, Pedro Pascal, and Boyd Holbrook. Moura had to gain more than 40 pounds and spent five months at a Medellin university learning Spanish for his role as Escobar. “I didn’t know anything about Pablo,” he told the Hollywood Reporter. “I was a kid. Now I think I’ve read and seen everything that was ever written or produced about Pablo.” It shows in his sensational, unmissable performance. (Netflix)
El Chapo (2017-2020)
By the age of 15, Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzman was cultivating his own marijuana plantation. This drama series chronicles the true story of his rise, capture, and escape - but for how long will he remain free? El Chapo’s life was so dramatic and gory there wasn’t much reason for producers to exaggerate his history. The Guardian compared it to Narcos and The Wire. The violent scenes are not for the faint of heart. (Netflix)
The Wire (2002-2007)
This superb American crime series - for many critics the greatest TV series ever - ran for five seasons, with each season introducing a different institution and its relationship to law enforcement. Breakout star Idris Elba is perhaps best known for playing the financially savvy drug kingpin Russell ‘Stringer’ Bell from 2002-2004, one of The Wire’s major characters. If the prospect of multiple storylines sounds confusing, start with season one which focuses on the drug trade and take it from there. You’ll soon be hooked. John C. Reilly was almost cast as Jimmy McNulty but eventually, the part went to British actor Dominic West when Reilly stopped taking producer David Simon’s calls. (Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, Microsoft, Chili, Sky Store)
DOCUMENTARIES
Narco Wars (2020-2022)
The series explores how opportunistic smuggling networks in Latin America turned into powerful and ruthless drug cartels with unprecedented power. Episode 5 examines how Pablo Escobar went to war against the authorities and his rivals, the Cali cartel, with politicians caught in the crossfire. Equally compelling is the episode involving Meth kingpin Nazario Moreno who turns a drug cartel into Mexico’s first narco cult: the Knights Templars. (National Geographic, YouTube, Google Play)
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