Hello Everyone, Janet W. here…
Three years ago, Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro) and Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) were introduced as FBI agents fighting the war on drugs in Sicario. The duo returns in Sicario 2: Day of the Soldado and the age-old strategy of pitting one enemy against another is re-imagined. Why fight all of the cartels one at a time when you could incite them to fight each other? Enter the daughter of a cartel king and a bad little girl, Isabel Reyes (Isabela Moner). This girl will wow you.
Sicario 2: Day of the Soldado starts off intriguingly well, but plateaus into the mundane halfway through the film. Del Toro is a decent actor, but his silent communication really doesn’t drive the narrative or translate well. Some actors can say millions with a look (Alexander Skarsgård, Robert DeNiro, Charlize Theron, etc.), but this tactic just doesn’t work with Del Toro.
Aside from his Oscar winning Best Actor in a Supporting Role performance for Traffic in 2001, Del Toro really hasn’t had the best roles to really launch his career into the premier class of actors. Brolin does his job well without question by bringing the cold, calculating soldier. Ever since Brolin’s performance in Jonah Hex (yeah, I know, it had issues, but Brolin was not one of them), it was apparent that his strong presence effortlessly comes across the screen to the audience. Sicario 2: Day of the Soldado uses this skill very well as both the antihero and the hired gun without a conscience.
All in all, Sicario 2: Day of the Soldado was promising for the first 20 minutes or so. However, the punchiness that reels you into the film dissipates midway through and possesses little to keep the audience on the hook. The cinematography is realistic, washed out by sun flares and sun spots, which plays well for the desert terrain of northern Mexico and southern Texas. The editing was solid showing the progressive merging of two plot lines. A few laughs and the use of multiple languages (English, Spanish, and Sign) were engaging. The problem lies in the lack of high octane action to power this action film. Sicario 2: Day of the Soldado simply runs out of gas. My two cents: Moner should have been allowed to remain a tough cookie versus a little girl. Her entrance sequence actually steals the film’s focus for a bit.
GOOD START THEN FIZZLES!!
Janet L. White
Straight and to the Point