Jack Goes Confidential: ‘Sicario: Day Of The Soldado’ Delivers Timely Intensity KC Style

The drug cartel crime thriller SICARIO was not a major box office blockbuster…

The 2015 movie did however garner quite a following by fans of the genre via the various video delivery systems in its afterlife.

Hence this week’s sequel called SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO.

But before we get started, let’s translate the title:

‘Sicario’ stands for hit man while ‘Soldado translates to Latin American Soldier.

One other observation:  This is not really a sequel or story continuation as we’ve come to expect.

Instead it’s a stand-alone, action drama which re-unites Josh Brolin and Benicio del Toro with some space of time between the operations of the original and this follow-up.

And just so you know, Emily Blunt is not part of of this spin-off.

The best description of the movie comes from its screenwriter Taylor Sheridan who says that, “If Sicario is a film about the militarization and that blending over, this is removing the policing aspect from it.”

In DAY OF THE SOLDADO the action begins at the U.S.-Mexican border but quickly moves to Kansas City, Missouri where Mexican bad guys blow up a big department store killing many in the process.

Time for the Secretary of Defense (Matthew Modine) to issue dirty counter terror marching orders to Brolin who in turn hooks up again with mysterious operative Del Toro for the ensuing deeds.

Of course that’s just part of the story as the war against the cartels now escalates further and involves del Toro’s kidnapping of a top kingpin’s daughter. Collateral damage, I guess one could call it.

It’s certainly not the type of movie you’d expect to see in mid-summer playtime—more of a fall season entry in my book.

But nevertheless, it’s a hard-hitting, high-intensity action-thriller that once again delivers on a timely subject matter.

SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO grading out a gritty: B-