Is Taylor Sheridan's 10-year-old thriller Sicario superior to his work in Yellowstone?Details explored

Taylor Sheridan has made a name for himself in the Western genre and while his most talked about and best-known work is perhaps Yellowstone, his screenwriting debut project, Sicario is often considered to be better in quality than most of his works that brought him fame.

Sicario, directed by Denis Villeneuve, was released in 2015 and starred the likes of Emily Blunt, Josh Borlin, and Benicio del Toro. The success of the film led to a sequel, titled, Sicario: Day of the Soldado, which was directed by Stefano Sollima and the writer remained Sheridan.

Since the film, Sheridan has been involved with a lot of projects, especially shows that are rooted in the neo-western genre. Besides his widely popular work Yellowstone, Sheridan is also behind shows like 1923, Tulsa King, Landman, etc. Yellowstone has set in motion multiple spin-offs of the show, all of which are also handled by Sheridan.

However, despite these many shows, and all of them received well by the viewers though not always by the critics, Sicario remains Sherdian’s best work in terms of storytelling and character development. Let us now explore what makes Sicario so good and how well it was taken by the viewers and the critics.

Disclaimer: This article contains the writer's opinion. Readers’ discretion is advised.

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Why is Sicario often considered Sheridan’s best work?

Sicario marked Sheridan’s venture into screenwriting as previous to this, he had been trying his luck with acting with shows like Sons of Anarchy. However, though he did not find much success as an actor, his first project as a screenwriter had Villeneuve as the director, and that made it a film, which will always be the highlight of Sheridan’s career as a writer.

One of the primary qualities that make Sicario stand out in comparison to Sheridan’s other works is how consistent it is in terms of storytelling and character arcs. For instance, Yellowstone, despite being the great show that it is, has often faltered in between seasons. The quality of the seasons has varied and certain characters have been written better than others, depending on the season.

However, with Sicario, that problem never arises. It can be argued that since Sicario is a film, the chances of a flattering storyline are essentially reduced because one does not have to carry it on for multiple seasons. Even then, Sicario’s writing stands out because of its well-developed arcs and dialogues and it is no wonder that the film brought him under major spotlight, which kick-started his writing career.

Sicario follows FBI Agent Kate Macer as she deals with a dangerous mission with the aim of stopping a drug cartel that operates between Mexico and the US. As she gets deeper into the mission, harsh truths emerge and tension builds up regarding the success of the whole plan.

Besides Sheridan’s writing, Villeneuve’s direction also took the film to another level, which also explains that despite Sheridan scripting the sequel, it wasn’t received with the same enthusiasm since Villeneuve was not a part of it.

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Taylor Sheridan is juggling multiple projects related to Yellowstone

One of the major reasons behind Sheridan’s alleged inability to reach the same height as Sicario is perhaps that he has been juggling a lot of projects. Besides other projects outside the Yellowstone universe, the screenwriter has been working on multiple prequels and spinoffs of the same show.

Some major shows inside the Yellowstone universe include 1923, The Madison, 1944, etc. A spin-off focusing on Beth and Rip, the two main characters from Yellowstone, has also been confirmed.

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All seasons of Yellowstone can be streamed on Paramount+. Sicario is now available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.

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