Review
A key part of the success of 2015’s Sicario was Emily Blunt’s role, which provided a moral balance to the hard-hitting story. Her character does not return in Sicario: Day of the Soldado; the main reason for this, according the director Stefano Sollima, was that they explicitly did not want this sequel to have a moral compass. Unfortunately, it turns out that is exactly what makes this movie nowhere near as interesting as its predecessor.
As per its tagline, Day of the Soldado escalates the ruthless No-Rules war on drugs. The cartels are not only trafficking white powder and people across the border, but also terrorists. So Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) re-engages Alejandro Gillick (Benicio del Toro) to provoke one of the cartel heads by kidnapping his daughter and making it look like the work of a rival cartel. This of course leads to a lot of violence, and the Mexican bodies soon pile up.
As per its tagline, Day of the Soldado escalates the ruthless No-Rules war on drugs.
But now that there is no moral compass in this movie, that’s just about all that remains: gritty violence without a clear point thanks to these kinds of illegal covert US interventions, all in the name of supposed US security. But does it achieve anything?
Not sure it achieves much in the war on drugs, but it also doesn’t deliver more than a disappointing sequel.
★★½
Film Stills
