Review of Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018) by Tyler S — 07 Jul 2018

Sicario was a great film, but the team behind this sequel become too confident that going bigger is enough, not even stopping to choose a fitting title. Much of it is thrilling, but I won't come back to it like I do the original.

Director Stefano Sollima does a decent job of creating a pessimistic atmosphere when he can, but as returning screenwriter Taylor Sheridan tries to scare us into distrusting the world, it just feels fake.

The opening scenes particularly resemble familiar radical conspiracy theories, initiating bloodbaths of mostly minorities. The pair of reluctant buddy-killers, Josh Brolin (cool and depraved) and Benicio del Toro (gripping even blank-faced), carry this movie through a story that doesn't know where to go.

Sollima and Sheridan ultimately choose unbelievable coincidences to drag them to where they can simply make more sequels. If only they'd trimmed the fat and centred the film on del Toro going against the world (including Brolin and their bosses) to save a child, in the style of Léon, and taken that story to a dark place rather than a convenient one, this could have easily become a worthy sequel.

All the ingredients are there.