Sicario 2: Day of the Soldado

As discussed before many times, action film sequels can be so hit or miss it's almost not even funny. For every John Wick 2, there's seven million Robocop 2s. If there's an action film that hits that sweet spot of being somewhat original and being a big hit, chances are the sequels will always flub what made the original so neat, so unique, so special. That's why it's understandable to be wary of the prospect of Sicario 2.

Sicario was an odd one out, in all honesty. No one expected such a humongous hit of a desert-laden cartel action thriller in late 2015, especially after Mad Max: Fury Road. But we all should have known better, considering it was a film helmed by Denis Villeneuve with Roger Deakins on cinematography, because it was an absolutely gorgeous film. It had none of those ugly action film tropes that plague most movies these days, it was gritty and real down to the core, and I loved it.

Unfortunately for the sequel, however, Villeneuve and Deakins dropped out, leaving many people worried. Of course, the idea of this film is only 25% helmed by the director in reality, so is the worry really all that necessary? In short: not really.

Sicario: Day of the Soldado does a lot of things perfectly considering what it is, and that alone makes it well worth the watch. I think the most important aspect to keep in mind here is that the filmmakers weren't necessarily looking for a direct sequel to Sicario, more or less a continuation of the universe, because Day of the Soldado works best as a standalone film. I admittedly was a bit cautious thinking it was going to attempt to extend the ideas of the first in some sloppy way, but no, it actually takes some time to talk about different ideas and attack some different issues along the way. It's not 100% perfect though, as it does lose some of the charm that Villeneuve and others from the first film added to it, some of the nuances that made it such a gorgeous film in the first place.

The sequel is lucky enough to keep two of its main actors around for this time. This is the third film featuring Josh Brolin that I've seen this year, and while it isn't his best performance of the year so far, it is definitely a great one. The real scene stealer is Benicio Del Toro, who, as always, portrays his charismatic and famous style down to a T. I love these two and I hope to see more of them in any potential future installments.

Day of the Soldado may not be perfect, but it works well for what it is, and for its efforts it gets 7.9/10. Luckily, it manages to beat all those ill gotten action tropes and sets up a pretty bold future for Sicario as a whole.