Review: Sicario Day Of The Soldado Bites Off More Than It Can Chew
- Jun 27, 2018
- 2 min read
If the first Sicario was a glacier, an unstoppable, if slow moving, force of nature, its sequel is a tornado. It comes out of nowhere, rips through the surrounding scenery, then vanishes, leaving nothing but anger and confusion in its wake.
Following a series of Islam-fuelled terror attacks against the United States, Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) is called in on the belief that it is the cartels ferrying the terrorists across the border. Graver re-teams with Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro) to begin a war between the cartels by kidnapping the daughter of the cartels leader who was responsible for the death of Alejandro's family. But after Graver is separated from both the girl and Alejandro, it's up to the mysterious Colombian to get an innocent girl to safety. And that's not even all the plots.
Soldado is something of a mixed bag. To begin with, it pales in comparison to a far superior predecessor, lacking any of the subtlety, underlying themes or realistic execution of the original. What it is is a mostly enjoyable action thriller that begins as one thing, becomes another, and ends as something totally different. Perhaps the only thing that is consistent throughout is the excellent acting work of both Brolin and Del Toro. Their characters are expanded from the first film, bring much needed depth to what were once sometimes eccentric characters.
The action is pretty solid as well, though it lacks the tension and sporadic violence of the original, instead feeling more formulaic, albeit well executed. Indeed, aside from being unable to settle on the story it wants to tell, Soldado's biggest problem is its ending, something that comes out of nowhere, is wholly unsatisfying, and leaves every other plot incomplete. To say it leaves the viewer with a bad taste in the mouth would not be inaccurate.
Ultimately, Soldado isn't a bad movie. While it is inconsistent, and the ending is one of the worst in recent memory, the film is mostly enjoyable. But these problems aren't easy to overlook. As such, I cannot recommend the cinema experience. Catch it on Netflix sometime.
Comments