On Sicario 2: Soldado

A sequel to the 2015 Sicario directed by Denis Villenueve, when announced, did not seem like a good idea. Instead it appeared a cash-in for one the more critically acclaimed films of that year. A natural progression to Sicario was not immediately obvious and the risk of tarnishing the first was too much of a risk. Plus, Emily Blunt, so effective in the first was not on board. Yet, all of this failed to take into account two things: a direct sequel was never planned, more a continuation of that murky, violent world, and secondly, Benicio Del Toro was involved.

Del Toro was, unsurprisingly, great in the first, using his physicality more than his words, plus his association with the genre goes back so far that he brings with him an authenticity to any border cartel film. The hint from the title that his character was moving from assassin to solider should have made this a more highly anticipated film.

For Soldado is great. It does not suffer from its association with the critical acclaim of the first. Instead it builds on the corruption and threat of that world and expands it in new directions, taking Del Toro and Brolin along with it. Without knowing and surely hoping not to be this relevant, the story (script writer Taylor Sheridan) of people trafficking and children being lost in the border wars turned out to be sadly on trend as the Trump administration carried out its most despicable act to date, separating children from parents as they entered America. This is not something you would wish to be realised, but the film benefits from it, becoming a searing account of the damage done by political wrangling behind the scenes.

Like its predecessor this is an intelligent action film, not attempting to race to the bottom for box office, Soldado treats its audiences like adults. There are no easy fixes here or immediate closure. There are moral grey areas and uncertain characters to contend with. Yet director, Sollima, coming off of Netflix’s Narcos (2015 -) finds great tenderness in the violence and corruption and handles it well. The scene where Del Toro and his teenage charge come across a deaf farmer is beautifully rich, and, in other hands, easily lachrymose, a tone not befitting of this world.  

Soldado is one of those sequels where, if it had come first, would be considered the better film purely on timing. As it is, this is a powerful expansion to a dangerous world and the hope is that the third, if there is one, manages the same.