Delta Force Sicario Border Scene: Are Those Guys CAG?

You’ve seen Sicario? Yes? Cool. You’re richer for having done so. No? Stop reading…. or at least don’t watch the video below, cos’ Larry Vickers of Larry at The Movies cares not for spoiling the plot — and some insight on Delta Force Sicario style. (Seriously, you should watch at least the Sicario border scene once before you continue.) We also jump into some information on characters, mainly Steve Forsing, who is based on a real-life operator.

Delta Force Sicario
Is Sicario Delta Force? No, but the movie does feature a Delta Force (CAG) team. In both the 2015 film Sicario and its 2018 sequel Day of the Soldado, Matt Graver (Josh Brolin), a CIA officer with the Special Activities Center, leads a team of DEA agents, U.S. Marshals, and Delta operators to retrieve a high-profile drug cartel leader.
Delta Force Sicario
The operation is shown from the perspective of an FBI agent, played by Emily Blunt; the sequel has more of a split-view perspective, focusing on Brolin’s Graver and Benicio del Toro’s assassin character, Alejandro Gillick. The movie’s most recognizable SMU “operator” is Steve Forsing, played by Jeffrey Donovan.

For Sicario devotees or haters — or even those who say “meh” — what you’re going to get when you do watch it is an excellent breakdown/critique of some of the tactics, techniques, procedures (TTP) used throughout the film; places where storylines up with actual TTP, and where it falls short. So if this is your kind of movie watching, here we go. But even if you just like the film to be the film, Larry’s breakdown doesn’t diminish this absolutely top-drawer thriller.

Price of admission (It’s free, of course, so thanks Youtube) is made up via his comparison of Delta and SEAL tactics and equipment. Vickers is former Delta (in addition to running Vickers Tactical) but is very diplomatic with his treatment of SEALs, as all professionals tend to be. Still, it’s pleasing to think about grudge matches between the two units. Or, in this case, just the ways in which they diverge.

Case in point 1

“They [Delta] have their leg-drop holsters much lower than we generally use them in Delta.” Who knew? But you can be sure I’ll be keeping an eye out on every SOF-enabled film I watch going forward.

Vickers’ review is filled with these little nuggets.

Case in point 2

“It looks like they’re using Sig 226s, clearly that’s a Navy SEAL thing. In Delta we never used ’em.” Which begs the question to this under-informed writer, “Hey Mr. Vickers, what’s Delta use?” (Am I so lazy that I can’t search this shit for myself?).

And…Full Auto?

If the AR/M16/M4 family are your thing, he makes a great point about the film’s opening scene, centered on a hostage scenario. For anyone who has used this family, or any other assault rifle, professionally, it’s a truism that full-auto is warranted in only a very few circumstances.

To this point, “Full-auto in CQB has no place, especially in a situation where you may have hostages involved.” But, of course, this is precisely what Kate Macer, played by the always fantastic Emily Blunt (of Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow), did during one room entry. In this case, full-auto is justified, but it would take some ergonomic gymnastics to flip the selector switch. So, from Larry’s POV, “she’d have had to have this thing on full-auto pretty much before she even entered the room…. Not really cool”.

Emily Blunt, as Kate Macer, gives a cartel member some full-auto love.
Emily Blunt, as Kate Macer, gives a cartel member some full-auto love.

The Characters

The film centers on Kate (Blunt), Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro), and Matt Graver (Josh Brolin), but Jeffrey Donovan playing Steve Forsing, seemingly a piece of window dressing, really ties the room together. The character of Forsing is based on real-life Delta operator Mike Vining (one of the first members of Delta, actually). Their names have the same structure, as do their glasses. Larry points to these birth control glasses as the apparent link. If you want further confirmation, here’s an above-below comparison.

Mike Vinning, the real “Steve Forsing”

Mike Vining looking after General Norman Schwarzkopf, during Operation Desert Storm. The inspiration for Steve Forsing
Mike Vining looking after General Norman Schwarzkopf during Operation Desert Storm.
Steve Forsing in the Delta Force Sicario Border Scene
The resemblance is pretty solid.

Steve Forsing in the Sicario Border Scene

Steve Forsing in the Delta Force Sicario Border Scene
Jeffery Donovan, as Forsing, looking after his moustache… and some cartel hitters.

More Steve Forsing Moustache-ness.

More Steve Forsing in the Sicario Border Scene
If you’re paying attention, Forsing is the first one to notice a spotter is tailing them when they leave towards the border.
Steve Forsing Border Scene
The movie does a great job of selling Forsing as a character without diving too deep.

Let’s close out on this.

I love watching Larry dissect a scene. His break-apart magnetic reading glasses get me every time.

I know we’re here to discuss Larry Vickers’ take on Sicario but allow me some digression. Avuncular is a word often used to describe the likes of Wilford Brimley, and it applies to Vickers. Watching him talk, I’m reminded of Brimley in John Carpenter’s The Thing. Charming like an uncle, but one who holds some sort of knowledge about the ruthlessness of living in the world. Each time Larry puts those glasses on, there’s a tiny snap, and I imagine something else snapping. Like a cervical vertebra.

Larry Vickers - Sicario
Larry Vickers…. tiny snap.

P.S. Sicario also has some really good movie poster treatments.

Sicario movie posters
For your consideration, one of the North American posters and a Japanese version where Blunt is soaking up some rays and Brolin is here to renovate on your porch. No Steve Forsing staches, though, sad.

If you’re interested in watching the Sicario Border Scene without the commentary, here it is (also on YouTube) in its entirety.

Here is the trailer for the movie as well; even if “Delta Force Sicario” isn’t technically a thing, it’s still a pretty good watch.

Scott Waters escaped the North of England as a child and has lived in the occasionally frozen/occasionally fecund land of Canada since then. An epigrammatically jocose former Canadian Infantry soldier who got himself some "higher education", he became an artist and writer. These days he does some work with aid groups, dips his toes in the Army while continuing to dip his toes in art and writing. There is a general "toe-dipping" theme.

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