Review of Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018) by Latincritic13 — 28 Jun 2018

Remember how gorgeous and linear that Denis Villeneuve’s Sicario was when it dropped in 2015? It was awesome when it had Emily Blunt in it. But when it comes to Day of the Soldado however, still has its unique grim touch and at the same time it felt weird without needing the strong components for the sequel from the first film.

First of all, to the Italian director that’s directing an American crime thriller sequel for Sicario for the first time in Hollywood roots, Stefano Sollima, nailed it in terms of the direction that he took in order to make this one badass organic film compared to the first.

Sollima’s direction felt quite mafioso and intense when he directs a film since he’s known for directing Italian flicks such as: Suburra and Gomorrah. The incorporation that he does in this film is naturally well directed compared to a good TV show and it didn’t disappoint.

Also, Taylor Sheridan’s screenplay for Soldado still got it going when exploring deeper within the roots between two borders and the motivation between our beloved characters and new talent. In addition, Dariusz Wolski’s cinematography has it’s own unique flare of how Roger Deakins sets up his style from the first and it’s quite impressive.

And Josh Brolin and Benicio del Toro still got it. Plus, Isabela Moner, known for the horrendous Michael Bay Transformer’s godawful sequel The Last Knight, was surprisingly good in this film even though it’s her latest debut in an intense film like this and she made a pretty good key character too.

However, after seeing this film, I somewhat had difficulties when there is a scenario or two that were out of place that affected the overall film quality - especially the first act. And for some reason, the plot kind of loses itself in different sequences and it's somewhat a crying shame.

This film is heavily described as an anthological chapter of its own, not a direct sequel and I completely understand it. Is Day of the Soldado any good, quite frankly yes in terms of cutting edge grotesque action and writing, but is it any better than the almighty first Sicario, nope – not even close.