Sicario: Day of the Soldado

Rolling out a big-budget R-rated sequel in the summer is risky.

Even risker when that original film made less than $50 million at the US box office.

I’d even say foolish not to return all-world director Denis Villeneuve (Arrival, Enemy).

And just downright insane to not have your lead character (Emily Blunt) reprise her role.

And yet Sicario: Day of the Soldado did just that. And did a damn good job with it too.

For those unfamiliar with the story, the original Sicario (2015) focused on the covert operations of the American Government against the Mexican cartels and the cold-blooded tactics used to meet the end goal.

In a wonky kind of set-up to Soldado, Muslim suicide bombers are being herded through the Mexican border in order to inflict terror stateside, which brings covert CIA agent Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) back to the states as well as his silent partner, Colombian born Alejandro (Benico Del Toro).

They determine one of the Mexican cartels are arranging for these foreign terrorist to enter Mexico, shepherd them across the border and decide to start a Mexican Cartel war by kidnapping the daughter of one of the head bosses, thus no time for them to aid foreign terrorist.

Yeah, it’s not for the light hearted. Soldado, like the original is extremely violent with morality and gentleman’s rules of engagement thrown out the window. It’s the playing field of cartel world; monsters against monsters.

And because of this predicament its difficult for the audience to identify with a character until we’re introduced to the kidnapped daughter Isabela (Isabel Moner), and the Mexican-American teen, Miguel (Elijah Rodriquez) who we meet at the beginning of his criminal life of human trafficking across the American border in a parallel narrative that eventually converges.

They give the audience hope through their innocence, that they’ll survive and hold on to their morality and somehow not be eaten alive in a world created of greed and death. A world Garver and Alejandro feel at home in but struggle with when their plans go to shit and their emotional attachment reveal vulnerabilities in their hitman natures.

There are flaws in Soldado for sure but it still managed to stay in the realm which the original film created and navigate that world through it’s gritty underbelly toward a story full of high tension, twists,  great performances and a killer musical score.

Most films don’t need sequels. But every once in awhile if you get the right storyline with the right characters, guided in the right direction and simply let it breath a little bit you might covertly find yourself not only with a sequel but a franchise with great potential.

As entertaining as the original. Better than Red Sparrow and 12 Strong.