“Nothing will make sense to your American ears,” Alejandro tells Kate. “But in the end, you will understand.” That proves to be an opinion, not a guarantee, and Sicario excels in the manner in which it keeps its intentions close to its chest.

The occasional Silver Linings Playbook aside, the deterioration of De Niro’s career has been swift and brutal, the result of too many bald lunges at sizable paychecks. So it’s nice to see him underplaying rather than overacting, delivering a relaxed, sympathetic performance and matching up nicely with Anne Hathaway’s comparatively jittery character.

Practically unrecognizable with that bald pate and those blue-sky contact lenses, Depp projects ferocious intensity as real-life crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger, who spent over a decade as the #2 man on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list, right under some fellow named Osama bin Laden.

It’s easy to understand why this movie is getting hammered in many quarters as offensive agitprop. But I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that No Escape works on a gut level – I haven’t seen a more intense motion picture during all of 2015.