MovieChat Forums > Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018) Discussion > Some stuff to like, and some stuff not t...

Some stuff to like, and some stuff not to really like

posted 6 years ago by PrimeMinisterX (8292)
11 replies | jump to latest

Just got home.

It's about 1/2 of a very good movie and 1/2 of a movie that's just okay.

For the first hour I was pretty invested and having a good time. Then after the hour mark the story goes in a direction that I didn't really like much at all and the movie just got boring for about 30 minutes. Then in the last half hour there's a bit of an uptick as it becomes marginally more interesting, though not nearly as interesting as the first half of the movie.

If you want to get a feel for the director's abilities, then you can check out Suburra on Netflix (the movie, not the series). Here's a trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYwpxrt7ZLA

Though this film does have a different feel and I think with Sicario 2 he was trying to mimic the feel of the first film as best he could.

It does have some good action sequences. There are a few set pieces that I would say are genuinely worthy of study. But do not be fooled by the trailers, it's not nearly as much of an action movie as they would have you believe.

I'd give the first half an 8, the second half a 6.5 and I guess a 7.5 overall.

[–] mikeflatley (756) 6 years ago

I concur wid ur assessment. Tho beginnin had dat cringy scene where mom and child tried 2 escape from bomber, wtf? Just stay away.

I wuz intrigued wid their plan 2 create war amongst cartelz but when it became save poor lil drug kngpin’s lil gurl campaign dat wuz total snoozer.

And how does a Sicario who didn’t blink at killin not only kidz but an entire family at ze end of part 1 suddenly go soft? BS.

Part dos es muy disappointmente!

[–] AnubisRaydeen (7897) 6 years ago

I was pretty happy with it until the end. The last 20 minutes or so were a dragged out scene that had one good action moment but served no purpose other than to prep for the ultimate end, the final few minutes. Those final few minutes were pretty stupid. Cringe worthy even.

7 or 7.5 sounds about right

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8292) 6 years ago

My interest dropped substantially when Del Toro and Brolin get split up, and then dropped even more when suddenly they are on opposite sides. Who wants to see that? The fun is seeing these characters work together.

My interest returned somewhat when the action starts picking up again near the end. The scene where the two helicopters ambush those guys in the truck was pretty awesome.

As I said, I thought the first hour was pretty damn good and then the second hour just didn't live up to it.

[–] AnubisRaydeen (7897) 6 years ago

Yeah, great scene. My interest started bottoming out after Toro survives. His story could have ended right there. OK, he made it. But no, we get a long drawn out survival trek (with a pretty awesome grenade scene) that doesn't really serve any purpose.
That final scene in which the child coyote is older and is supposed to be some "hard" gangsta was nearly laughable. He looks ridiculous. The meeting he has with Toro amounted to little other than some lead-in for Sicario3 in which we are to expect quasi-threatening thug antics from some nobody who is going to be groomed to be a sicario even though he can't even shoot a man properly.
The split between the mains was interesting for the well portrayed emotional content. But I agree, the movie is way less fun after this. Brolin goes off the reservation eventually, so why not earlier? Would have liked it if they rescued both of them, pre-execution.

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8292) 6 years ago

Yeah, it was shocking when Del Toro's character is seemingly killed and I felt it was a bit cheap to bring him back like they did. Taylor Sheridan's stories usually feel pretty grounded and realistic and that little plot twist just felt false. Seems like chances are one in a million someone's going to get lucky enough to survive a point blank gunshot in the way that he does.

I also didn't feel like Brolin and his crew would be so willing and matter-of-fact about killing Del Toro. I mean, I get that they are pros and this is just what they do, but still, that didn't seem right either.

[–] AnubisRaydeen (7897) 6 years ago

I was hoping that they were playing along and were going to rescue Toro and then the whole group claim that they never saw him.
I loved the directing except for a few parts.

[–] SteveRes (474) 6 years ago

"My interest dropped substantially when Del Toro and Brolin get split up, and then dropped even more when suddenly they are on opposite sides. Who wants to see that? The fun is seeing these characters work together."

Yes, my exact thoughts after watching it. It's not a bad movie, it's just average compared to the original. What annoyed me was the re-writing of Brolin and Del Toro's characters. In the first movie Del Toro murders a woman and her children without breaking a sweat, with help from Brolin to get him to the location. Now suddenly he refuses to kill this girl? This is nonsense. The whole gut punch of the first film is the fact that we are rooting for Brolin and Del Toro because they're supposedly "the good guys" doing cool CIA stuff, only to discover they are in fact morally bankrupt monsters willing to murder women and children and end the film threatening the life of a US agent. Now they have a conscience all of a sudden? If they intend making more sequels this is in danger of going down the Rambo road, where the nuanced and thought provoking original is turned into mindless action movies with tough guys shooting guns for 120 minutes. Not to mention that disappointing ending where if this movie had followed the characters respectfully Del Toro would have blown that punk ass kid who shot him away instead he's going to become some kind of Obi Wan Kenobi figure to him. Ugh.

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8292) 6 years ago

I agree with some of what you said here, and disagree with some of your other points.

One thing I definitely agree with is that this film is merely average compared to the first one. It has its moments, and overall I enjoyed the first half of the film a lot more than the second, but it just cannot live up to its predecessor.

I'm not sure I totally agree with your assessment of Del Toro's character, though. You're right that he did kill that family in the first film, but I think in that case he saw it as an ends-justifies-the-means kind of situation. Yes, he was a calloused character with a damaged conscience, but not totally without conscience. After all, he did let Emily Blunt's character live at the end of the movie.

So I could see his character in this film being an evolution of the character from the first film, his soul having healed somewhat since exacting his revenge.

[–] yatzo376 (7452) 6 years ago

Yup
I concur with yr assessment
8 for Sicario and 6.5 for Sicario 2.
2 had good pacing and I liked the sign language scene but it was missing something.
The ending pissed me off
This isn’t marvel movie even though Thanos is in it . Lol

[–] CraigJamesReview (1460) 6 years ago

Yeah, to me this movie had the action and good characters but not exactly the suspense or the thoughtfulness of the first one. I missed stuff like that traffic jam scene and the intrigue of a mission were not supposed to know all the details of and the jerry rigging for control. This never really felt that gritty or important.

Have a short review of this movie if anyone is interested- https://youtu.be/VxtymyB-ZWc

[–] fani (371) 6 years ago

Yeah. Pretty much how I felt as well. A bit of a rollercoaster with a great beginning and a weird direction middle and a pick up near the end and a final let down.

I mean to have him not die and then come back and find the kid and not blow his brains out?
Kinda silly at this point.

Also the kid is brought illegally to the US. She'll be quickly extradited and there's no witness protection. The whole thing went to shit with their ridiculously stupid plan to begin with. They should just get back to stopping illegal immigrants instead of trying to start cartel in-wars