Movie SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO Review: brutal and cruel continuation
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Greetings! It's time for one more movie review. This time I want to talk about the movie that is a continuation of the first one. We many times saw bad versions of great movies' continuations. So, how about the movie SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO? Is it the same bad as many other continuations? Or maybe it is better than predecessor? So, let's talk about it.
The movie Sicario was launched in 2015 and got a remarkable success and excellent ratings from both viewers and film professionals. The movie was famous for its brutal and very realistic look at the fights of law enforcement with drug cartels. Now, it finally matured for the continuation of the story that was written by Taylor Sheridan, the scriptwriter of the predecessor. For the fans of the first part, there's no secret that Sicario will be a trilogy. They announced about the second part immediately after the premiere of the first film.
The second part was entrusted to Stefano Sollima, the creator of the popular Italian crime series Gomorrah, who, after long negotiations, changed the director Denis Villeneuve, nominated for two Oscars, who has decided to try himself in the science fiction genre with the movie Blade Runner 2049.
I knew it was a bit cheeky. I knew the audience would wonder why we were doing a sequel to such a beautiful movie, but I felt the idea was so original. We weren’t making a franchise, but more of a saga. We’re exploring this world with different points of view. - Stefano Sollima
Many of the spectators, who were waiting for the second film, were intrigued about how the new director will succeed in mastering the second movie, and what about the continuation will say the D. Villeneuve. The director of the first part of Sicario praises the movie continuation SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO. He said that it is a real bomb.
Critics gave good ratings for the film. In addition to the name of the film, we can see adjectives such as wonderful, fantastic; not only the director but also the scriptwriter and the actors are praised. It is also emphasized that one of the values of the new action thriller is the unexpected scenes and a strong, indifferent story that the audience does not expect. All this only makes to wait for the third part of the movie even more, since it's no secret that Sicario will become a trilogy.
Movie SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO Official Trailer - Video credit: SonyPictures via Youtube.com
The Short Story Of The Movie
In the first part of Sicario, we saw the ruthless, cruel drug war without any rules on the US-Mexican border with the naive FBI agent. Three years later, South American drug cartels have discovered a new source of income: they are helping the jihadist fighters enter the United States for plenty of rewards.
In SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO, we see how the war between the law enforcement and drug cartels is accelerating at the US-Mexican border for several decades. Without continuing to suffer losses, criminals create an entirely new strategy that can bring them far more money than smuggling forbidden drugs. Their new business is the transfer of terrorists to the US territory.
With the increased number of Islamic terrorist acts in the US, with the involvement of Mexican drug cartels, the heroes of the first film - the agent Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) and the former lawyer Alejandro Gillick (Benicio Del Toro) once again unite their forces to fight. As the situation worsens, Matt and Alejandro are selected by Secretary of State (Matthew Modine) for their ability to carry out dirty operations and eliminate criminals from within. First, the officials invited Matt Graver, their special agent. This called his old acquaintance Alejandro Gillick for the help. The Alejandro arranges the kidnapping of a daughter of a drug cartel's head, so hoping to cause a war conflict between drug cartels.
However, when this plan fails, and when events turn into a much-unexpected turn, Alejandro is forced to rethink his priorities and values.
Action Thriller SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO - Photo credit: zombiekiller.militaryblog.jp
The Content Of The Movie
I can say that Sicario became one of a few favorite action thrillers seen over the last few years, which I could watch more than once. Not only did the film reveal the internal side of law enforcement fights with drug cartels, it has also demonstrated the very moral side of certain decisions of some people, which often are the cause of some crimes. Also, in addition to the clear and engaging storyline, the film held in tension all the two hours of watching, so that even the idea of turning your head to the side or even looking at the clock did not even come to the mind.
And although the first film fascinated me, to wait for the second part was not so easy. However, the main engine of the original band was the talented director Denis Villeneuve, who, due to his unique vision, was able to produce a breathtaking and rather picturesque movie. Therefore, having learned that he would not add a hand to the continuation of the movie, I felt somehow sad.
On the other hand, despite the fact that the creator of the original film left this movie, the script still was written by the Taylor Sheridan who wrote the script for the first film. Along with this message, faith in the continuation was not completely gone. The film was released by Stefan Sollima, a film director responsible for the similar topic in series Gomorrah, who promised to do the best and present a worthwhile cinema project that even Denis Villeneuve himself would not be ashamed of it.
The scene of the action thriller SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO - Photo credit: dailymotion.com
Before watching the new movie, I once again preview the movie of 2015, so I can more adequately assess what Lionsgate film studio prepared for us. I will advise you to do the same, as a lot of details of the film will be related to the storyline of the original band.
The second movie cannot be named direct continuation of the Sicario, but an individual film related to the heroes we knew from the fight against the drug cartel three years ago. And it got me captivated because, in the first film, all the attention was paid to agent Keith Meiser, and here, everything goes around the Alejandro and Matt, who, at least for me, left amazing impression in the first film, and he really deserved a story that would turn around their characters.
Both of the main actors reveal themselves from a slightly different perspective than they were portrayed in 2015. In this movie, the scenario author already plays on the limits of their possibilities and characters, which sometimes depending on a situation, turn out to people having a completely different world view, who can make all kinds of nonsense for to save their butts.
Action Thriller SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO - Photo credit: bm.worldpronews.com
At the same time, the mysterious image that was formed in the first original story disappears. Of course, without analyzing deeper their characters, both of them show a great physical form and also emit ruthless cruelty that is simply necessary to deal with the serious problems they often encounter.
Of the other characters, I would also highlight Isabel, whose mission is simple - be a nice bait in the negotiations between Alejandro and Matt with her influential father. The girl becomes such a neutral player that lets you see both the law enforcement and criminals' flaws and their attitude to the innocent person. We all know perfectly well that there are always those who do not have anything to do with the war at all.
The action scenes here, like in the first part, are not missing. I could even say that in this film, we saw much more action scenes than in the original one. This is an eye-catching movie's places that cause tension and do not let to go away until the end of the scene.
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But there is one but. In this film, some shootings are not at the border or on the highway, but in the city center. And it made me feel the most puzzled, because in clashes on one side of the street, in the other, nobody responds and calmly rides to work as if it was an ordinary day. So, the authenticity disappears at such moments, which is not very good for the overall film image.
There was also some confusion about the last act of this band, in which it seemed that the creators of the film did not even know how to end this story, so they started everything possible in the last thirty minutes so that the viewer at least would receive a good dose of adrenaline and go out of a cinema with a satisfaction on his face. But nowadays, it's hard to attract only by action scenes alone. If the story has flaws, it does not let you to fully believe what you see on the screen. But here's just a little nuance that fell into the eye.
Movie SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO - Photo credit: hdwallpapers5k.com
After the preview, I went with a smile on my face, because it's still a movie project that perfectly matches the definition of a brutal movie. There are not many such bands, depending on what has dominated the film industry in recent years.
Therefore, despite all the flaws of this film, I can say that this is still the most spectacular action thriller of this year, which is worth seeing at the cinema to get the maximum feeling. And while the band by its plotline still is overshadowed by the great predecessor of 2015, it is a good enough continuation in the whole, which may in the future be continued also.
In the sense of the story, Sicario 2, like its predecessor, does not offer anything too new. However, this is not in principle bad. The fairly simple story of the movie allows more time to portray brutal drug cartels and lighten Matt and Alejandro characters. And here SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO is not disappointing. Although it does not reach the level of the first film's brutality, the Stefano Sollima' band has its palette of cruel and stressful scenes, which prevents the spectator from relaxing.
SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO - Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin
Photo credit: hdxwallpaper.com
The Technical Side Of The Movie
The biggest asset of the technical side of both the first and second part of the film is the operator's work, which in both cases creates a very picturesque foundation for everything that is presented in the storyline. The second movie's operator, Dariusz Wolski who worked on such projects as Alien: Covenant, All the Money in the World, The Martian, the trilogy, of the Pirates of the Caribbean, and Alice in Wonderland, managed to convey this dangerous, special agents' world no worse than the 2015 film. Shooting and panoramic images are not only shocking but add a lot of extra emotions to the Alejandro and Matt's fight against drug cartels.
The spectacular and very authentic landscapes of the towns in which the action took place, heroes' clothing and, of course, the pyrotechnic party, which as a message must be inseparable from the attributes of such films, especially attracted attention.
Music is quite good in the film, but it does not create such tension as Johann Johansson's musical compositions made three years ago. In this movie, the music was inserted almost exclusively into the scenes of action, not the moments that could accompany us in the future action.
Sound editing is perfect on all shooting scenes. Strong as if we were somewhere near the epicenter of all that hellish action, in which criminals and law-abiding agents tried their forces. I would not complain about the video montage because the story was clear enough, and the whole action did not annoy at least a minute, sitting in the cinema for more than two hours.
SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO interviews - Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin
Video credit: FOX 5 DC via Youtube.com
The Collective Work Of The Actors
Of all the troupe of actors, I would like to highlight only three who, in my opinion, were worthy of the screen time.
Josh Brolin
First of all, Josh Brolin, to whom this year is really special. In May, he appeared in the role of Thanos in a highly financially successful and ten-year awaited film entitled Avengers: Infinity War. Later in a few weeks, he had already fought in the mutant Cable's coat in the second part of Deadpool. And now he plays in the Sicario, and again coped with Matt's role perfectly.
Josh Brolin in a movie SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO
Photo credit: kinosfera-extra.blogspot.com
Benicio Del Toro
The stern Benicio Del Toro, who was a celebrity of the first show part, attracted attention to his character in this film even more. The actor was radiating not only his charisma but also tried to play his character as convincingly as possible. His strong incarnation in Alejandro character made him one of the strongest sides of both parts of the film. Alejandro, wandering between the antagonist and protagonist, will be forced to rethink his values more seriously this time and decide whose side to choose.
He became the biggest star of this movie for me.
Benicio Del Toro in a movie SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO
Photo credit: goombastomp.com
Isabela Moner
The sixteen-year-old actress Isabela Moner, who took the role of drug baron daughter Isabela, needs to be also mentioned. The girl convincingly and very entertainingly played her character, which was very important for the entire storyline.
All other actors who appeared in the film did not stand out so much from the crowd, so I do not think they are worth mentioning.
Isabela Moner in a movie SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO
Photo credit: ciamovienews.com
On The Final Note - Verdict
Obviously, the topic of the US military conflict with South American drug cartels is hardly surprising anyone - this theme has been so common in Hollywood's past few decades. The impact to use this theme may be both the success of films shown already and the worldwide recognition of television projects.
In Sicario, drugs are being replaced by terrorism, the behavior without moral norms of US officials are changed by even more cruelty decisions, causing awkward questions about insanity. All this is well reflected in the media often highlighting the challenges facing the United States.
Movie SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO group
Photo credit: twitter.com
Just like in reality, police officers are accused of cruel behavior with perpetrators, and while watching this action thriller movie, the question unwillingly arises in the mind where is the Mexican Wall promised by US President?
This is a movie full of tension, blood, and action.
Every movie in these series needs to be a standalone that stays in the same world. I’d love to watch another chapter of ‘Sicario,’ but it should be from a different director who has their own specific style. You shouldn’t have more than one film from the same director. Then it would be too much like a real franchise. - Stefano Sollima
Credit: variety.com
SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO is a film full of good and quality action, featuring a solid duet by Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro, delighting by its brutal form and involving you into a fairly good story that is completely unnecessary but, at the same time, a very spectacular continuation of the 2015 movie.
Thanks for reading my new movie review of the action thriller SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO
Have a fun watching!!!
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