“Let’s talk about the future.”

From Sicario: Day of the Soldado.

When a terrorist attack by four suicide bombers set off an investigation into how the men entered America across the Mexican border, FBI agent Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) is given the go-ahead by the Department of Justice to stop another attack from happening, so he contacts one of his assets, Alejandro (Benicio del Toro) and together they develop a plan to start a war among Mexico’s cartels.  To kick off their plan, the team travels to Mexico City to assassinate the accountant of one cartel, kidnap Isabel Reyes (Isabela Moner), the youngest daughter of a rival cartel leader, and then stand back as the cartels destroyed each other in violent acts of payback.  The plan goes well until the team tries to bring Isabel back into Mexico where the cartel-controlled police turns the escort into an ambush intended to everyone involved.  After the fiasco south of the border, the American government cancels the operation and informs Matt to cut any loose ends that could tie back to America.  Meanwhile, Alejandro is stuck in Mexico with Isabel and both are desperately trying to get out of the dangerous cartel territory; their only option is to try and use the services of a human smuggling ring led by a man (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) and his distant American cousins (David Castaneda and Elijah Rodriguez).  Everything quickly spirals out of control, leaving both Alejandro and Matt questioning how far they’re willing to go, with every action threatening the safety of both neighboring countries.

This sequel to the 2015 film features the same bold action and quiet suspense as the original, but also steps up the humanity of certain characters.  One aspect that makes Day of the Soldado a more enjoyable film than its prequel is knowing where the two main characters come from and how they operate.  It is the perfect balance of thrilling violence and quiet drama; not a violent free-for-all of an action movie, but rather an effective, suspenseful movie because it is realistic.

| Rated: R | Running Time: 123 minutes |Genre: drama/crime/action |

||Family Viewing||Cursing: 6* of 10|Nudity: 0 of 10|Sexuality: 0 of 10|Gore: 7 of 10

|AVAILABLE FOR HOME VIEWING|