Sicario: Day of the Soldado

Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018) continues the first film, and this time nobody is there to state the rules. The first film had an FBI agent watching from outside and the audience looked through her; a voice saying that what was being done was wrong. That character is absent here. What remains is Matt Graver and Alejandro, two men who recognise no limits, with nobody restraining them. The story: America designates the cartels as terrorist organisations and plans to start a war between them. The method is a kidnapping: a cartel boss's daughter will be taken and the blame put on a rival. The plan collapses in transit and Washington cancels it, and cancelling at that point means the girl is to be disposed of too. Alejandro refuses the order, and from there the film is between him and the child. Taylor Sheridan wrote it again. But the first film's team did not return: no Denis Villeneuve, no Roger Deakins, no Emily Blunt. The difference shows. Stefano Sollima shoots more direct action; the constant sense of threat and set pieces like the border convoy are not here. Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin continue in their roles. Hildur Guðnadóttir took over the music; she had studied with Jóhann Jóhannsson, who scored the first film and died after it. The last section is left open for a third film. It runs 122 minutes. Good for: crime thrillers, border stories, and anyone who liked the first. Less good for: the first film's moral frame is gone and the violence looks unjustified.