"Sicario: Day of the Soldado" Review
It's become a rarity when an action movie dares to take risks that are rarely seen in the genre. Most action movies find comfort in conforming to genre conventions, going for over-the-top set pieces, or having definitive good guy versus bad guy story lines. It's not uncommon to come across moviegoers that view most action movies as derivative.
This is what made the original Sicario such a refreshing film. Despite being an action-thriller focusing on crime around the U.S.-Mexico border, Sicario's writing and direction made for a thrilling, and at times haunting commentary on the devastation caused by crime and the justice that tries to resolve it. It was gritty, realistic, and featured characters that didn't necessarily fit into "good" or "bad" categories, making for a layered, complex film in a genre where that's seldom the case.
2015's Sicario genuinely surprised me. I've grown to expect most action movies to be predictable and lacking in originality, so Sicario's unique direction was something that I found very welcoming. While I wasn't as blown away by Denis Villeneuve's direction of the original film as most seemed to be, I primarily found the superb writing to be the strongest aspect of Sicario.
Three years later, we now have Sicario: Day of the Soldado. While Villenuve couldn't return as director, Taylor Sheridan thankfully returns with a very well-written screenplay. How does Day of the Soldado hold up to the original? Let's talk about it.
Set after the events of the first film, CIA agent Matt Graver (played by Josh Brolin) uses military tactics to initiate a war between drug cartels following a suicide bombing in a Kansas City grocery store. After recruiting a few individuals to assist him, including Alejandro (played by Benicio Del Toro), Graver and company instigate violence against a cartel while masquerading as another cartel. Along the way, Isabela, the daughter of a kingpin, is dragged into the conflict by the US government posing as the rival cartel, who uses her as a strategic resource to combat the cartels.
As with the first film, we're given a scenario primarily focused on crime centering around drug cartels on the U.S.-Mexico border. However, this time, we're given a focus on how kids get swept up in the actions of drug cartels. Throughout the film, we have a sideplot of a teenager in Texas that befriends an individual that links him to a drug cartel. There's a particularly notable sequence when this teenager encounters Benicio Del Toro's character in Texas, which sets up some amazing tension when they encounter each other again later in the film when they're both under significantly different circumstances.
Additionally, the teenage Isabela Reyer (played phenomenally well by Isabela Moner) is essentially held captive by the U.S. government due to her familial connections to the cartel. She witnesses a lot of gruesome violence throughout the film only because people want to get to her and use her. It isn't until halfway through the film that we see Isabela get paired with Alejandro, who create a very compelling and believable character dynamic with one another.
Benicio Del Toro as Alejandro, just like in the original Sicario, is undoubtedly a highlight of the film. Additionally, we're given more time with his character. I earnestly loved seeing Del Toro whenever he was on screen - his charismatic yet restrained performance made his character and his interactions with Isabela very endearing to watch.
Though, perhaps a lot of that is in thanks to Sheridan's excellent screenplay. While Day of the Soldado sees a noticeable downgrade in the style of its direction, its writing is just as good, if not better than the original Sicario. In fact, the writing is what keeps this film as enticing as it is.
Sheridan implements a lot of restraint throughout Day of the Soldado, which is something that you don't see very often in films of this nature. There are numerous instances of long stretches where we don't see any action or violence. In these instances, we're given an opportunity to understand these characters and the situations they're put under. There are many characters in this film that do horrific things. Some of these characters we follow and others we don't.
As such, there doesn't feel like there are any "good" or "bad" characters, much like the first film. Nearly everything in Day of the Soldado exists in a grey area. This makes the violence in the film have an extra weightiness to it. When we see the horrific displays of violence in this film, the deaths are fast, and its not quite clear who you should be "rooting for", if such a thing is even possible for an onlooker to do. There is no good or bad in Sicario - only orders, and Day of the Soldado honors that. Unlike most action movies of its kind, Day of the Soldado opts for less traditional action sequences, but delivers tense and memorable displays when it does decide to show you any action.
Another level is restraint is present in the dialogue. Another component of what makes the characters in Day of the Soldado feel as if in they're in "grey areas" is due to the way they talk. They aren't any characters in this movie that are particularly chatty. When we do have more dialogue-focused scenes, we're given believable conversations between people. The dialogue doesn't really feel like written, movie dialogue, but rather, it feels like genuine conversations that people have. This makes Day of the Soldado have a realistic depiction of not only violence, but also a realistic depiction of the people responsible for violence.
This isn't to say that the writing is perfect. While Sicario proudly defies a lot of genre conventions, it still manages to fall into a few of them. Namely, we see the reinforcement of some negative stereotypes of Mexicans, along with the action cliche of having a few characters along the main cast that we barely know anything about and rarely contribute to the larger narrative.
Despite these flaws, Day of the Soldado's screenplay is arguably its greatest strength. It turns a film that could potentially be boring and drawn out into a film that is grippingly tense, realistic, and believable. I found myself intrigued with the characters and the unfortunate circumstances that their actions cause them to be in.
Boasting phenomenal writing and great acting, Day of the Soldado, like its 2015 predecessor, was a refreshing film to watch. It takes the action genre in a direction that we rarely see, and the apologetically realistic, gritty atmosphere of the film makes for an experience that feels unique in an ostensibly crowded genre.
Final Grade: B+
Thank you for reading! What did you think of Sicario: Day of the Soldado? As always, join the conversation and let me know!
