Sicario was one of the best movies of 2015 and I still think it is a re-watchable, gritty, suspenseful thriller that serves the mysterious crime story quite well fitting the context of the realistic nature of the everyday unfortunate life of certain parts of Mexico and on the border. It is actually near close to one of my 100 favorite movies of all-time because of its impact from its story and the drug cartel world, excellent performances and the direction by both Denis Villeneuve and cinematographer Roger Deakins. Now, I did not want a sequel because I thought it ended perfectly where even though tragedy would strike and it started to become common, life just goes on. But, mostly everybody who has seen the first movie were interested in the character played by Benicio Del Toro, well, we get that. What we get is a sequel that is quite thrilling but not as impactful due to its conventional second half.
As terrorists are threatening the United States as they commit bombing in certain parts of the country, it raises the level of concern as people think that terrorists are being smuggled from Mexico into the United States. After the storm bombing and interrogating the person maybe responsible for the attack, Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) is brought in by a government official named Cynthia Foards (Catherine Keener) to the Department of Homeland Security to meet Secretary of Defense James Riley (Matthew Modine) to discuss a new mission. They want to start a war between themselves and the Mexican cartels to stop the suspect smuggling and the terrorist attacks. They vow to go after the Matamoras cartel as well as their kingpin, Carlos Reyes. Matt will do it under the condition he has to get dirty and Riley agrees.
Matt meets with Alejandro Gillick (Benicio Del Toro) in Bogota, telling him that they are turning him as loose as he can get. They make across the border and find the Matamoras gang, including a top lawyer named Diaz. Alejandro and the team kill all of the gang and Alejandro finishes Diaz off. We meet Isabel (Isabela Moner), daughter of Reyes. As she is being escorted home by her bodyguards, their van is ambushed by an explosion and Alejandro kills the guards and kidnaps Isabel. Alejandro brings Isabel to a house where they stage a fake rescue to escort her back to Mexico. They are being ambushed by the Federal Mexican police and they kill the police which brings a sticky situation.
The first half is tremendous as it sets up and quite frankly, in a very disturbing manner, the monstrous activity going on regarding the bombings because you become angry and confused by the terrorist attacks. That is the point of whether or not it is irrelevant. The bombings are irrelevant because they are not supposed to happen because the United States wants to annihilate the irrelevance threatening the peace to its citizens. It has political commentary underneath those missions and it becomes so much groundbreaking and powerful than a bit of the main personal story and definitely more than the sub-plot, which is the conventional element of the movie. It becomes also convenient towards the end for two characters that it becomes a coincidence and a bit manipulative as to leading a third movie, which I am interested in if they make the story better.
The performances are still quite solid as Josh Brolin has to become the person trying to switch sides almost every time during the movie even though he is not in there much in the second half and he becomes a bit underused. But, it's all about Benicio Del Toro's character, who still gives the most interesting performance in this movie. He is still a hitman killing people and he is still cold and menacing but because of the mission that surrounds the theme of redemption, where a girl reminds her of her deceased daughter, he has a heart deep inside his cold soul. Like he said in the first movie, it is a land of wolves. Catherine Keener and Matthew Modine also give solid brief performances, too.
Again, director Denis Villeneuve did not return but Italian director, Stefano Sollima, is at the helm and has made a competent and well-crafted sequel that is worth of interest and kept me hooked until the tonal shift where it becomes conventional. But, what fascinated and also disappointed me is that it is written by master screenwriter, Taylor Sheridan, who gave us the first movie as well as two great movies, Hell or High Water and Wind River. Even though there was a lot going on here in the first half reminiscent of those achievements, it was the second half that sunk it where becomes a bit familiar, almost paralleling Logan. It seemed that it did not want to go into a deeper realm of storytelling and becomes a bit slow. I do recommend it for its performances, action and a strong first half but I was a bit disappointed by pinpointing the formulas and the underwhelming results of its subplot and the end to its character's arc. If the saga continue, hopefully, it hearkens back to the dark and gritty magic of the first movie and this movie's first half.
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