Review of Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018) by Anthony B — 15 Jul 2018

Badass, but not without a conscience. I was not a fan of Sicario, which was underwhelming and safe to say the least, but here we have a sequel that works tremendously as a stand-alone prestigue picture and crowd pleaser.

The agenda-driven format of the original has been retooled, Emily Blunt's dull and predictable protagonist has been removed, and Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin's characters share the driver's seat and what they are driving is a fucking tank.

I never realized how much Blunt got in the way of the more exciting elements of Sicario, but after seeing Del Toro and Brolin have a blast being ferocious as they struggle with inner turmoil like frustrated teenagers, it felt as if someone behind camera was like "okay everyone, we're allowed to have fun this time.

" Also, for as entertaining as it is, Sicario 2 never takes the easy route or feels cheap. It is bang without flash, teach without preach, and understands the difference between prestigious and pretentious.

As franchises go, the Sicario saga is so far comprised of a B+ sequel to a C- film, but I believe that a third installment is not out of the realm of possibility (especially after that cold as fuck white-knuckle ending) and it has the potential to be a solid A.