Film Review: 'Sicario: Day of the Soldado' Ripped From Headlines

CHICAGO – We don’t really know what is going on at the Mexican border, nor if we’re lucky understand the desperation in crossing over. “Sicario: Day of the Soldado” is a cynical and sad film, but gives a bit of perspective on the this ongoing situation, especially as it deflates the current presidential administration.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

This is not a direct sequel to 2015’s “Sicario,” but it does include a couple of characters from that film, portrayed by Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro. Stefano Sollima takes the director reins from Denis Villeneuve and original film writer Taylor Sheridan again formulates the tale. The story is a pretty bitter pill, with a border standoff that is manufactured by the U.S., and border crossing teams that trades upon a need for souls seeking a new life in exchange for cold hard cash. There is an odd journey for the character portrayed by Isabela Moner, from pampered princess to pawn in a game of deception. The film is absorbing from beginning to end, and another hard lesson about the pure luck of being born in the right place, if not necessarily the right time.

There is a suicide bombing in a retail store in Kansas City, and the terrorists who committed the act are suspected to have entered the U.S. with the help of Mexican drug cartels through the southern border. The Secretary of Defense (Matthew Modine) is willing to go to extreme measures for revenge, and recruits CIA operative Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) to come up with a strategy.

Graver suggests a “false flag”… have the CIA, with help from the sicario (hitman) Alejandro Gillick (Benicio Del Toro), kidnap the daughter (Isabela Moner) of a Mexican drug cartel lord, and blame it on another cartel. They also stage a fake “rescue” of the girl by the FBI to tie it all up. When the government finds out that the terrorists did not come over from Mexico, the cancellation of the original operation isn’t so easy.

“Sicario: Day of the Soldado” opens everywhere on June 29th. Featuring Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro, Catherine Keener, Matthew Modine and Isabela Moner. Written by Taylor Sheridan. Directed by Stefano Sollima. Rated “R”