Sicario: Day of the Soldado

The war on drugs has escalated beyond what anyone anticipated, as the cartels are now using human trafficking as a way to smuggle drugs and terrorists across the border. After a horrible suicide bombing at a convenience store, the U.S. government calls on federal agent Matt Graver again in order to combat the escalating situation. Matt re-teams up with mercenary Alejandro to execute a plan to cause the cartels to jump at each other's throats and start a war with each other. At the center of this plan is a little girl who just happens to be the daughter of one of the more notorious cartels in Mexico, and the man responsible for the deaths of Alejandro's family.

Sicario: Day of the Soldado doesn't quite live up to the hype of the original, but even then it's still a taut, intense thriller that still managed to keep me on the edge of my seat the entire time. The lack of the humanity of Emily Blunt's character, Kate Macer, is unfortunately noticeable throughout the movie. The characters of both Matt Graver and Alejandro both try to make up for her absence by developing a (still twisted) sense of morality, but considering how much each of their characters were willing to cross the line in the original Sicario, it's a somewhat ineffective way to incorporate the same sense of morality. I guess in some ways it makes sense, people can change and become less hardened to their surroundings and actually gain some of their humanity back. However, in the context of Sicario and Sicario: Day of the Sodado, there's no real payoff or even any real reason for the 180 turn of Matt's and Alejandro's characters - at least, not any that I noticed. Not to mention, but (NO SPOILERS) the ending of Day of the Soldado made it seem like the change was only temporary, and they're both back to the way they were before.

If there is a third Sicario, I sincerely hope that Emily Blunt returns, and that the tone, characters, and the story all return to the full form that was the original. While Day of the Soldado was not a bad movie (I loved it, and will see it again sometime), there was a noticeable difference between the two. Again, not bad, but it just didn't live up to the hype of the original.