Metacritic reviews

A lot of evil is laid on the table in El Sicario, and the film makes a big, if exquisitely subtle show, of theorizing that there's no way to explain how it got there.

El Sicario: Room 164 is an almost laughably simple, aggressively drab-looking film, but it packs a wallop.

Despite his repentance, you sense that this lost soul will be confessing his sins for all eternity.

The hit man's narration is compelling and frightening on its own.

Our subject retains a noticeable streak of pride in his expertise, though falters when discussing the killing of women. Hoping for his own salvation, the converted killer now claims the scales have fallen from his eyes, but his executioner's hood remains in place to the end - as does the mephitic air of timeless evil that hangs over El Sicario.

The stories are horrific, if laced with Tarantino-style humor.