Sicario: Day of the Soldado (Stefano Sollima)

[TGM]

SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO

Director: Stefano Sollima

imdb

[TGM]

This is a mostly really good solid follow up to the previous movie. And then the ending happens.

[

Show Spoiler

I never expected for the Sicario movies to succumb to bullshit copout endings, but that's precisely what happens here. And while it doesn't completely ruin the whole movie for me, it does dampens things and feels cheap, and certainly makes for an unsatisfying feeling leaving the theater, though not at all in any similar intended bleak fashion that you may have felt after watching the first.

Spoiling even a little bit more:
[

Show Spoiler

I honestly wouldn't preferred if they had followed through with keeping Benecio del Toro's character dead, and just following up on the remainder of Josh Brolin's story through to the end. But instead, Brolin's story gets cut off before any proper closure, and del Toro's ending is, well, as described in the previous spoiler, cheap.

]

]

So yeah, shame it had to end the way it did, 'cause it was a pretty damn stellar movie up until that point. But that ending definitely sent it down quite a few notches for me.

[DavidSeven]

There's no doubt that putting Brolin and Del Toro's characters at the forefront makes this an entirely different film from its predecessor.

Nevertheless, I found this to be a pretty damn compelling narrative on its own terms. Although it lacks the prior film's subversiveness, it almost makes up for it with intricate and very clever plotting. Sollima also does an admirable job in picking up where Villeneuve and Deakins left off in mounting the film. From a technical perspective, it leaves you with a lot of lasting images and sequences.

It's sort of a shame that a few bad choices in the third act are going to kill this movie for a lot of people. Not to say that's entirely unjustified, but there's some stellar cinematic work in the first 2/3 of this film that is so far and above what you will find in your boilerplate Marvel/Star Wars sequel. And those things pull a 90% tomato-meter without breaking a sweat. This film deserves better than the response it's received, but they really did bungle the landing.

[

Show Spoiler

Not sure if Sheridan truly wrote the last 1/3 or not, but it certainly feels like a tacked on studio ending. The Marvel-esque fake-out was bad enough (really bad), but the closing scene felt like it was straight out of the Cinematic Universe Building Playbook, with Del Toro morphing suddenly from an entirely unique character into some kind Tony Stark/Nick Fury hybrid. Blech.

]

[Ezee E]

Yep. Everything's already been noted here. I was quite impressed and shocked at what I was seeing. This sure didn't seem like a big-budget studio sequel at all...

That is, until it did.

But if this becomes a universe, and they push for tense scenes like the rest of the movie had, count me in.

[

Show Spoiler

I really need to find out if Taylor wrote everything post-Benicio death. If he did, it seems studio forced, down to the grenade shot. Brolin's story, completely cut off for another sequel I suppose.

]

[Dukefrukem]

Loved this.