Sicario: Day of the Soldado, not so much a sequel to 2015’s megahit Sicario that you have to know exactly what happened in the first one to appreciate the second as it is its standalone movie. The only thing you really need to know to go into the 2018 movie fresh is that (spoiler), the drug war in Mexico has escalated to the point where the United States government is forced to use questionable tactics that force some of its operatives to question the morality of what they are doing and that the US is aided mystifying man with a unique set of skills but a checkered past named Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro – The Hunted, Traffic) whose family is killed after an order by a Mexican Cartel Kingpin named Carlos Reyes. That’s it. This man’s men kill Alejandro’s family, and he wants revenge. If you accidentally read that brief spoiler, shame on you for going at least three years without yet seeing the phenomenal Sicario. And just because I gave a brief spoiler definitely doesn’t mean you shouldn’t check it out if you have not already.
The film is set somewhere shortly after the first. It was three years between the release of these two movies, and there’s no reason to think that this isn’t the timeframe of events. We see a series of events early on to establish the dire situation. A man is caught on the Texas side of the US/Mexican border, and when a team of operatives corners him, he pulls out a detonator and blows himself up. We then are taken to Kansas City, where another suicide bomber blows himself up inside a grocery store, killing dozens. We are lead to believe that there is a growing level of concern in the United States that terrorists are being smuggled in through Mexico.
But, of course, everything does not go according to plan. And this is really where the movie gets its legs. If there’s one thing we’ve learned from movies, television shows, books, and the news, it is that that the Mexican/US Border (especially in Texas) is a place where you do not want to be. The only constant is crime (drugs, murder, torture). The first movie didn’t shy away from that, and its sequel doesn’t either. But at the heart of all of the action and in the middle of all of the violence is a human story, told from many different angles. I won’t say too much more about the story but instead will focus on other aspects of this movie that I really loved.
First of all, is the tone. It’s dark. It’s creepy. It feels all too real when you wish that there was nothing less real in this world. We have to go to great lengths to protect ourselves (not necessarily the United States, but “we” in whatever sense of the word you would like to use it in) from the world’s evils. Sometimes doing what we need to do to protect ourselves involves going to great lengths to hurt those trying to hurt us. Nothing is glorifying in Sicario 2. It’s a grim reality of what our country needs to do to protect its borders and all of the evil that occurs within them.
The second is the score. I thought the music in the first Sicario was such an integral point of the storytelling. The subtle transition from soft to loud allows the tension to build up in absolutely fascinating ways. It’s riveting, and whoever arranged the music for these two movies should arrange music for all action movies.
The third is the storytelling. It’s tough to screw up anything written by Taylor Sheridan. Not even 50 years old, and the man has written the screenplays for Sicario, Hell or High Water, Wind River, and the Paramount television series Yellowstone in the last four years. He’s on a streak where pretty much everything he turns to instant gold, and this film is no different. Stefano Sollima (Suburra) does well with his first major directorial effort, sequencing his story in a way that is smart, coherent, and logical in a setting that is anything but. The twists and turns that occur along the way are done with the precision of a veteran like Denis Villeneuve (Arrival, Blade Runner 2049), who directed the first movie. Last but certainly not least is the acting.
Brolin and Del Toro have never been better as allies/enemies, depending on what side of the border they are on and the current order of the United States government. It is fascinating to see Brolin, as patriotic of an American as there is, switch from one gear to the next in his efforts to accomplish his mission. And to watch him be countered by Del Toro, with motives of his own that sometimes coincide with Brolin’s character and sometimes do not, is truly action film acting at its very, very best. With Emily Blunt, who was incredible in Sicario, not returning for the sequel, needed a lot for it to live up to its predecessor, and we absolutely received that.
The 65% Rotten Tomatoes score (with a 67% audience score) is a bit disappointing, to say the least. This movie is as good of a sequel as just about anything I’ve seen, short of The Dark Knight in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. Sicario: Day of the Soldado was that good and is a film that should be seen by anybody who has seen the first one. I don’t know if I’d go as far as to say that it needs to be seen in the theatre, though I was pleased that this was where I watched my viewing of it. It’s a big-budget action movie that, I think, translates to your television screen as well as it would seeing it in a cinema.
Plot 8/10
Character Development 9/10
Character Chemistry 9/10
Acting 10/10
Screenplay 9.5/10
Directing 9.5/10
Cinematography 10/10
Sound 10/10
Hook and Reel 10/10
Universal Relevance 9/10
94%