Director: Stefano
Sollima
Notable Cast: Benicio
del Toro, Josh Brolin, Isabela Moner, Jeffrey Donovan, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo,
Catherine Keener, Matthew Modine, Shea Whigham, Elijah Rodriguez, Howard
Ferguson, David Castaneda, Jacqueline Torres, Raoul Trujillo, Bruno Bichir,
Jake Picking
There were a lot of mixed feelings to be had about Sicario: Day of the Soldado even before
the film was released. Particularly since the first film was, at least in my
opinion, a tour de force as an artistic and nihilistic thriller about the
inherent issues with the system in regards to America’s role at the southern border.
It was not a film that begged to be franchised, but the fascinating characters
it painted certainly did leave plenty of morally gray areas to be explored in further
stories. After years of rewrites and announcements (originally both Emily Blunt
and director Denis Villeneuve were announced for the film, but would drop off
later on) we are left with an ‘interesting’ second entry into this surprise
series. An obvious step down in execution – in essentially all areas – from its
predecessor, Day of the Soldado still
manages to craft an interesting and vicious film that tries desperately to take
the series in something of a new direction while maintaining the style that
made Sicario such a critical (and
surprise box office) success. It’s a flawed film ultimately, but one that will
solidify this franchise for further entries.