Sicario: Day of the Soldado

This sequel to the widely appreciated Sicario, comes with a major pressure point — that it has to live up to the great expectations of its parental mount which, incidentally was a surprisingly high grosser in the action-thriller segment.

To tackle this back-puller, …Saldado clothes itself in constant violence, mostly of the extreme kind, and only after that takes the refuge of the storyline which is competent and tight enough to take you through the wild, bloody terrain on which the plot unfolds.

…Saldadois a new chapter in the no-rules drug war with cartels switching to trafficking terrorists across the American border. So, the mysterious Alejandro Gillick (played to the hilt by Benicio Del Toro), whose family was murdered by a cartel kingpin, escalates the war on behalf of FBI and kidnaps the kingpin’s daughter.

A whole lot happens on the way with the girl (the admiringly expressive Isabella Moner) turning into a symbol of introspection between the two enigmatic men who question what they are really fighting for, both right and wrong.

The best thing about this stylish and often engaging thriller is the commanding performances of all its characters. Del Toro is undertoned but smouldering in a killingly silent kind of way while Moner comes of the screen with speaking eyes and bursting emotions without too much verbal ado. The futility of violence is progressively shown in this blooded film through her journey from being a kickass girl in school to someone who has been deadened by all the blood around her by the end of the film.

On the whole, …Saldado may not touch the same heights as the 2013 original but on its own, and even though the end is a bit fuddled and muddled, it has the power of drawing eyeballs, especially of action junkies. Source: Published in Sunday Pioneer, 8 July, 2018