Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Agent Matt Graver teams up with operative Alejandro Gillick to prevent Mexican drug cartels from smuggling terrorists across the United States border.
Sicario: Day of the Soldado is a competent but noticeably lesser follow-up to its acclaimed predecessor. The plot starts with a provocative premise — cartels smuggling terrorists — but loses focus and narrative coherence by the third act, leaving multiple threads unresolved or abandoned. Brolin and Del Toro remain compelling screen presences and anchor the film, but the absence of Emily Blunt removes a crucial moral counterweight that gave the original its tension. Cinematography is solid and carries some of Deakins-era aesthetic DNA under Dariusz Wolski, but lacks the iconic compositional ambition of the first film. As a sequel, it largely recycles the moral-grey-area espionage thriller framework without adding meaningful new perspective, making its Novelty low. The ending is particularly weak — it feels unresolved and sets up a sequel rather than landing with the weight the story demands, undercutting the dramatic stakes built throughout.