Ladies and gentlemen, Sicario Day of the Soldado is the worst sequel of all time.
It's like somebody paid Zach Snyder to make a sequel to Citizen Kane.
Or as if somebody paid Michael Bay to turn Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket into
an action franchise.
To give you a sense of the tragedy of this film, we have got to talk about Sicario, one
of the best films of the decade.
On its own terms the sequel is just a muddled and crappy action film, but when you consider
how far this franchise that should never have been has fallen you will get a sense of what
I am talking about.
Denis Villeneuve is one of the best directors working today…
If you haven't seen The Arrival or Blade Runner 2049 you absolutely should.
Each of Villeneuve’s films deals with a different set of themes in exceptional ways.
Artificial intelligence, modern love, loss and time itself are beautifully dealt with
in these films.
I am a bit more cautious in recommending Sicario because it is horrifically violent.
And I do mean horrific.
Unlike the sequel, and most other films out today, the violence is not entertaining.
It has real weight.
Sicario is about the border between Mexico and the United States and the savage brutality
of the drug trade.
It follows the journey of an idealistic federal agent, brilliantly portrayed by Emily Blunt
as she becomes involved in the US government's attempts to confront some Narcos.
The evil of drug related violence is conveyed unforgettably in The films opening frames,
but what makes Blunts journey to the heart of darkness work so well is the way that the
film reveals the evil on the other side of the border.
Over the course of Sicario we are introduced to some of the monsters working on the side
of the good guys.
I hope you can hear how heavily in quotes I meant to put good guys there.
Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin depict two profoundly twisted forces of nature.
They fall into action hero archetypes but the film uses that framing to condemn everything
about US drug policy, and maybe I am getting carried away here, but I also think that the
film says something profoundly true and sad about the human condition.
If you've got the stomach for it you should absolutely see this film.
In Sicario Villeneuve uses all of the film makers arts to tell a profoundly dark story.
It makes Netflix’s Narcos, a very competent show that tries to work with similar themes,
look like a half assed episode of CSI by comparison.
Everything about Sicario is genius.
The color scheme, the pacing, the soundtrack, the painfully beautiful choices of shots work
in service of its essential message.
There are no good guys in the US and Mexico's Narco wars.
And that's what makes the sequel Sicario Day of the Soldado such absolute trash.
Sicarios director Denis Villeneuve wisely passed on this project.
The message is lost completely.
The color scheme, a poor imitation of the pacing and straight rip offs of some of the
shots survive, but Emily Blunt and the moral weight of the first film are nowhere to be
found.
Some brainless executive thought he could build an action franchise around Benicio Del
Toro and Josh Brolins characters.
The script incorporates some ridiculously exaggerated war on terror elements that manage
to be incredibly cartoonish and deeply offensive at the same time.
It's Live action Looney Tunes basically, that plays directly into Donald Trumps vision of
the world, and stops just short of endorsing his policies.
The evil of these characters survive, at one point Josh Brolin murders an entire extended
family to aid in an interrogation, but we are also supposed to be rooting for these
guys somehow.
Everything about Sicario day of the soldado is an ungodly mess.
Rather than a tale of man's inhumanity to man, we have another US special forces power
fantasy, wrapped up in the reanimated corpse of a much better film.
It's not much fun either.
For the love of god, do not go see this film.
Rent Sicario instead.
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