Hell, in Yankee Land
By Nathan Wilson
Writer and sometimes director Taylor Sheridan might be that name you hear now and ends up massive later. Sicario 2: Soldado is his fourth outing as a film writer and for his own brand of Neo-Western Thrillers, following on from the first Sicario. For this review I shall refer to Sicario 2: Soldado as simply Soldado.
This review is spoiler free. For all the people out there who did not watch the first Sicario do not worry one bit. This is because Soldado even as a sequel, is more than a simple continuation of the story from the last film while not being directly related. Because of this we lose a few familiar faces who get replaced with new ones. Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin continue their almost last ditch attempts of ending the Drug War with a continued brutality and mercilessness making the audience ask if these are the “good” guys then I dare not want to see the bad ones. From this leads another odyssey of crime and punishment, dissed out to whoever gets in the way.
Note this film like all of Sheridan’s films is not for the faint hearted by any stretch of the imagination. With scenes of terrorism and torture it truly is a savage experience in its depiction of the Drug War on both sides of the aisle. Along with this we get a similar experience and tone to the first one. This is of a ghostly haunting view into this world with a soundtrack that is not a score that you would normally think of but rather fear below the surface mixed with political thriller undertones. This creates an atmospheric panoramic vision into this world that has been created that just bleeds with thrilling menace and malice. The performances are chilling and ghostly this is especially relevant with Del Toro’s character who floats through walls it almost seems from horror to horror. My criticisms of the film are its cinematography and direction. This is because when we compare Sicario to Soldado the latter pales to the first ones might and menace. This could be because of multiple reasons like different directors and cinematographers working on the film. This in my opinion makes the film inferior to the first one in both style and execution. This results in a lesser finished product to what the first one offers. This doesn’t mean the product is not good oh no the complete opposite it just means that a seven and a half is not a nine out of ten for the film unlike the first one.
Overall the film in my opinion is a solid seven and a half out of ten. The film suffers from a so-called Doctor Who curse. The one being that first the previous one is amazing and then the next one is good then everyone is more let down and unhappy about what they have just witnessed. With this in mind I do enjoy the film I just feel like its older brother is still a more dominate one and for the time being will be, until whatever Sheridan comes up with next.
Movie Night 