Sicario Day of the Soldado is the kind of sequel that drops you in deep and never really lets you breathe but what is it about sequels that they most of the time cant get things right, this sequel is not trying to outclass Villeneuve’s original and you can feel that from the first minutes but it does lock in on raw tension and a very grounded sense of danger that will have you tense all the time, the movie opens with hard shocks, ugly detonations and that immediate feeling that the world just got way worse, I kept thinking this one wants to be more of a gory and savage than the first one like they trying to set the bar higher, the conversations are cold and straight, the operations are blunt, there is this idea that someone higher up just snaps a finger and dudes like Matt Graver move mountains with very few questions asked, I honestly liked that stripped tone here, it fits a story that keeps telling you there are no rules today and everyone understands exactly what that means, even when I felt the plot turning messy or the script dragging that it actually does a bit heavy during the second part of the movie. There are many technical aspects of the movie that were really cool like that overhead eye tracking convoys, that whispered orders in the dark, that plane that just appears on demand, I get the vibe this is exactly the point, look how fast they can change a map, look how cheaply a life can be traded when the job is labeled necessary, this is not pretty but it is focused, it gets darker as the movie progress and there is a moral fog in every conversation specially on the second part of the movie that has less action before the closing scenes.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5052474/
- Platform: AppleTV+
Rottentomatoes Rating
After the success of the first movie we get all this familiar faces in a new configuration, Josh Brolin’s Graver is still that casual destroyer, a man in crocs barking about no rules, very direct, zero fluff and yet this time he is forced to stare at his own reflection when the plan gets ugly, Benicio del Toro’s Alejandro barely speaks, as usall although this time we see a more sentimental and moral oriented side of the character, he remains one of those rare characters who can be terrifying without raising his voice, different from the first movie this time we get Alejandro gettting beat up very very badle to the point that he almost died and Benicio sells the pain but over all sells that survival mode he locks into, he has to chew glass through half that stretch and still keep moving , it is nasty and it is tense as hell and it might be the closest this sequel gets to that Children of Men level of breathe in the moment realism, not quite there but it still hits hard, on the other side you have the young cartel world kid because thats all most of them are, the kid who thinks he is ready because he can look someone in the eyes and not blink, one day you are flexing by a truck, the next day you are asked to do something that ruins a piece of your soul, I know its a bit cliche have the new guy on the cartel kll someone as their final test to be accepted but what else there is? and its this moment that lands in a place that sets up something bigger or darker, or both.
The big swing in Soldado is building a fake war to spark a real one, on the first movie was a similar situation but there was Alejandro personal motives too, it is that cold idea of kidnap a daughter, make it look like the rivals did it while watch the world burn but as a result or say "karma" there is the mid sequence rescue, the whole convoy choreography, the panic and then the abrupt cut to carnage, I loved how the camera keeps distance until the second the movie decides to drop you into that chaos, from the two movies its probably the best scene compared to the one on the border, the movie keeps returning to that drone view too like a god eye, always there. I do not think it is subtle but it is effective, when Graver realizes the rules have changed mid mission and that the kid is not the only target anymore, he is still efficient as hell but there is something like doubt, I found that interesting, the movie never softens him into a hero, it just lets him feel something and then keep working and that is more truthful for this world. Isabella the daughter at the center, is sharper than people around her expect, you can see the exact moment she starts piecing it together in the staging area, soldiers not cops, this is not a rescue, just a different kind of cage, her scenes during the ambush connect the horror with a real human reaction, the shock in her ears when the gunfire hits the truck, the silence right after, that was really good, there are little touches like that that kept me inside the movie even when the broader plotting felt like it wanted to sprint past some logic, for me the experience was the goal, and in that lane it delivers.
I know a lot of people are going to say the story feels over complicated and at times it does, the early terrorism thread seems to point one way and then it turns into something else, by design the movie is suppose to confuses intention and method as the first one did but this time same as the action and corrupt police they try to set things higher but in ther certain point the story also how creates too much friction with Alejandro’s path still made for a nasty moral turn, there is also a late helicopter decision that plays like a clear break in Graver’s mind, I wish the aftermath of that had one more scene or something else because it really felt like they were either running out of time or ideas so decide to throw the hole helicopter scene as a shocking effect, the cut forward leaves you hanging, yes the final stint of the movie tries to set up a next chapter but it felt a little too abrupt, I still liked the nerve of the ending though, the conversation in that shop, the quiet anger that worked for me and it fits the modern western angle that keeps showing up, dusty roads, hard men, a town that decides to look away, Sheridan’s writing always bends that way and it shows in how these characters solve problems, they do not give speeches they just pick make things happen and bring down chaos.
I am not going to pretend this sequel is perfect in fact the middle of the movie kills the mood and deviates from the formula of the original movie that had multiple small action scenes one after another to keep you hooked all the time, there are beats I wanted more from, a few threads could have landed cleaner and I do think the first movie sits in a league of its own but I still had a good time with Day of the Soldado for what it is, as usual most sequels cant overcome the original and then its always the same as we cant keep toping things off, so its ok for sequels to basically fail as most of the time the target is to either continue the story for a third one or just set the bar higher but Day of The Soldado failed at the second one. The movie keeps that pressure on from the start but certainly a more emotional movie and it shows when there are choices that force these characters to live with what they done and honestly that ending sticks as we see the mighty Alejandro all fucked up but isnt him a bad as to still survive all what he have to go through, the second movie really put him to the test and show more than his Sicario skills and then again leaves the door open for revenge and everyone he just spent time with is standing too close to the edge, I guess thats the cost of doing business with the enemy, Day of The Solcdado main idea probably was to show what that no rules day actually costs.
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