Sicario: Day of the Soldado

2018 sequel that is arguably completely unnecessary

Rating: 13/20

Plot: Josh Brolin's character and Benecio del Toro's character continue to fuck with Mexican drug lords.

Did you know that Benecio del Toro's first film role was as Duke the Dog-Faced Boy in Big Top Pee-Wee? I didn't, but I was trying to remember what he had won Academy Awards for and noticed that. I assume all of his awards were for his work as Duke the Dog-Faced Boy and have stopped researching.

I'm probably putting words in my friend Rubber Duck's mouth, but Benecio del Toro is his favorite actor. Rubber Duck once said something about how he'd watch any character del Toro played, but in my mind, that means "Benecio del Toro is my favorite actor" or something similar to that. I have a feeling that Rubber Duck will skim this, and this next sentence is for him and him alone:

Text me, man! I have a couple of weeks until I have to go back to my day job and would love to get together to catch up.

I'd love to know his feelings about del Toro's character in these Sicario movies, too. He's quite the bad ass in the first installment, and in this one he's borderline mythical. There's a definite moment in this where the story moves from being about del Toro and Josh Brolin's characters doing stuff to being a story about del Toro's character. I still haven't made up my mind about whether that Logan-esque story is when this gets more or less interesting. I know things get a little too ludicrous by the time all this is wrapped up, odd for a sequel to a movie that worked partially because it was realistically gritty. Alejandro's journey in this definitely helps cement that character and probably del Toro as a complete bad ass though.

Brolin's good, too, especially in scenes where he gets to wear Crocs.

I'd write more about the moral ambiguities in this sequel or about how it's missing a little something without Emily Blunt's character letting the audience borrow her perspective for the duration, but I have to go take my first shower in several weeks and don't have the time. I also don't have time to check for typographical errors.