The summer of reboots and sequels continues with “Sicario: Day of the Soldado”, the follow-up to 2015s glorious “Sicario”. Both written by Taylor Sheridan, the “Sicario” movies don’t differ too much tonally, but there are certain elements of the first installment that “Day of the Soldado” tries to equal, but never does.
In the first one, we got to follow FBI Agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) as she discovers how evil can be right under your nose the entire time. Having this harsh truth slowly revealed to us as the story developed is one of the things that made “Sicario” so good; “Day of the Soldado”, however, is never a poignant commentary — it it doesn’t “say anything” as powerfully as its predecessor did.
Two main characters return for another round of cartel-fighting action: Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) and Alejandro (Benicio del Toro). After a series of suicide bombings stun the nation, investigations find that the bombers got here by crossing the Mexican border, aided by cartels. Graver is contracted by the government to subtly make the cartels start a war with one another so they will eventually eat each other up. For obvious reasons (not the least of which is how the U.S Government plans to kidnap a drug lord’s daughter), Graver’s mission is highly classified; prior to departure he brings in the ruthless Alejandro who, as we learned in the first movie, is always itching for a chance to get back at the cartels for what they did to his family.
Though not always perfect, the film’s biggest strength is its action. I’m glad this brought back just a taste of the masterful suspense “Sicario” gave us. Especially in the final scenes, we get really intense, violent sequences that you simply can’t take your eyes away from. As always, del Toro is the best person to watch; his droopy, scarred countenance says everything you need to know about him (which is good because he isn’t too talkative). The U.S Government, on the other hand, is probably the worst character. It’s painful to watch Graver’s special force get violently involved in Mexico, and then have to clean up the mess they just made. But, much like this unorganized team, the movie itself starts with an ambitious scope and later seems to be cleaning up after itself.
What starts out as an intense battle against terrorism quickly turns into a messy U.S Government debacle that — as it is apparently discovered later — wasn’t all too necessary to begin with! One moment there’s an interrogation with a Somali pirate, and the next there’s a plan to start a cartel war. Before we know it, SWAT is kidnapping Isabel Reyes (Isabela Moner), princess of the Reyes cartel, to make her father think war is being declared by his rivals. In the end, we end up with just Alejandro and Isabel on a journey back up the border; so the whole thing is like a funnel: it starts with a really wide, ambitious plot, but then narrows down to the fates of only a couple of people. It doesn’t even show us what’s going on with the actual cartels or terrorists during all of this even though, after all, they’re the reason this whole thing started. If you’ve watched enough movies you know that many of the best ones operate in the opposite way: a small story opening up to a bigger scope with bigger stakes and consequences for the characters, but “Day of the Soldado” can’t decide if it wants to stay big or small, even though sticking with one would have made a much better movie.
