[Movie Review] Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018)
Plot Summary: The drug war on the U.S.-Mexico border has escalated as the cartels have begun trafficking terrorists across the US border. To fight the war, federal agent Matt Graver re-teams with the mercurial Alejandro.
Director: Stefano Sollima
Writer: Taylor Sheridan
Runtime: 2h 2min
Main Cast:- Benicio Del Toro as Alejandro
- Josh Brolin as Matt Graver
- Isabela Moner as Isabel Reyes
- Jeffrey Donovan as Steve Forsing
- Catherine Keener as Cynthia Foards
Review by: Erika T
In this sequel, the story turns to a new page. In the neverending drug war, cartels have begun trafficking terrorists across the US-Mexico border. Federal agent Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) steps in to apply his unorthodox strategy to deal with the problem.
He calls on the mysterious Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro), who lost his entire family after they were murdered by a cartel kingpin, to do what he does best–a whole lot of killing. Alejandro stages a kidnapping of the kingpin’s daughter to escalate the conflict, but not everything goes according to plan and her fate leaves him questioning what humanity he has left.
What I Liked:
The story and characterization were well-done for the most part. The action scenes were well edited, leading to quite a few intense moments. I found myself jumping in my chair and gasping quite often, and I’ve seen plenty of action films where I don’t normally react that way.
Despite the serious tone, one surprise was the amount of humor in the script. One would think it’d be out of place in a film like this but they manage to incorporate it cleverly into the plot.
What I Didn’t Like:
The characters were interesting and I wanted to see more than what we got. I think more can be done with them in sequels, so I hope they make another appearance. It’s just that with the format of these films so far, I’m not sure if they’ll be discarded and it will be more about the Sicario and the people around him.
I thought Emily Blunt’s character was interesting in the original, so I was hoping to see what an evolved version could bring to the sequel. However, should there be another sequel there is always a chance to bring her back. I liken her to Sarah Connor in Terminator 1 who was naive and inexperienced, but by the sequel she was the iconic badass we all know and love.
Though it has a 2 hour run time, the film left me wanting more, and not in a good way. I feel like there were some plotlines that could have been closed up and I was expecting that progress in this film, but all of a sudden the credits started rolling. I don’t need everything spelled out for me but I think another 10-15 minutes could have gone a long way.
Summary
Benecio Del Toro and Josh Brolin are among my favorite actors so it didn’t take much convincing to get me to see this one. I also enjoyed the original, but you don’t have to see that one to be able to follow this one.
It is a solid film. It’s entertaining but thought-provoking and takes the viewer through a variety of emotions. This type of storyline would make for a compelling TV show.
User Review
( votes)Images Courtesy of IMDB
