Sicario; day of the soldado Review

[VARIABLE9]

SPOILER ALERT!!!!

Save your money.

It started off really well, I liked it up to the ending, which was a let-down. How the hell did Alejandro know who shot him? Alejandro was hooded, he couldn't have seen shit. The Alejandro from the first movie would have had no problem killing the girl, he nearly killed Kate at the end. Little or no explanation for his moral quandary was presented in the sequel.

Negative Ghostrider. He wasn’t going to kill her in the first movie, he knew she would sign with some leverage. She reminded him of his little girl (or his wife IDR). I haven’t seen 2 (will tomorrow) but I foresaw how he would want to protect ‘the little girl’ from the trailer. It’s all about making Sicario 3 probably.

[Averageman]

I thought Kate was a "spoiler" in the first movie, everything she did was counter to the mission.
But I thought her partner was a spy too, that dude was always poking around.

[MountainRaven]

I thought Kate was a "spoiler" in the first movie, everything she did was counter to the mission.
But I thought her partner was a spy too, that dude was always poking around.

I would be really worried if someone working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation wasn't curious and didn't go digging into things that they thought were wrong or illegal.

[LMT Shooter]

Negative Ghostrider. He wasn’t going to kill her in the first movie, he knew she would sign with some leverage. She reminded him of his little girl (or his wife IDR). I haven’t seen 2 (will tomorrow) but I foresaw how he would want to protect ‘the little girl’ from the trailer. It’s all about making Sicario 3 probably.

I disagree. He was prepared to kill Kate, he knew the consequences of letting her talk would suck for him, and he wasn't taking that risk. A major point of Sicario was how most regular folks will do what they are pressured to do, but Alejandro did not know she'd sign, & he was prepared to kill her, just as he killed whomever he felt he "ought" to kill, like Silvio, and Alejandro didn't have to kill Silvio once he had accomplished his mission. The mission was accomplished, as far as Silvio was involved, but Alejandro had to tie up the loose ends. Also, I think that most well-trained/experienced professionals won't threaten a use of force that wouldn't be allowed/justified, and for good reason. WHEN (not IF) your bluff gets called, either you look like a jackass because you broke the rules, or you look like a jackass because you won't do what you threatened to do. Alejandro in Sicario would not have looked like a jackass, but he would've broken the rules. He killed those 2 boys & their mother, why not a 16yo narco-whore?

But hey, it's just a movie, I don't really care, it's just a movie with a bad ending.

[Averageman]

Everyone interprets the meanings of books and movies differently, but I felt like I should expound on this a bit.
All of these people were using each other and each for different reasons. There were some loose loyalties but everyone had their own motivations.
The CIA/Graver needed the Delta guys for Muscle.
The CIA/Graver needed the FBI/ Kate to operate inside the United States.
The CIA/Graver needed Alejandro because Alejandro wouldn't hesitate to kill these guys on either side of the border and Alejandro provided cover for the CIA. Essentially they could always claim their Adviser Alejandro went off the rails and murdered.
*I think Graver overestimated Kate's commitment to the mission. After seeing a couple dozen bodies behind the drywall and two Officers die from a booby trap, maybe he thought "Well, She's on Our Side Now".
I could be wrong, but I don't believe Kate ever really witnesses any rules being broken by Graver and his crew, severely bent, but not broken until the last scenes.

If anyone is a tragic figure in all of this it is Alejandro. The guy has lost his Wife and Child, his career as a Prosecutor and any hope of a normal life after all of that was done to them. From that point on his only motivation was to kill those responsible.
Although Silvio was not one of the murderers, he was an integral part of the machine that allowed these things to take place. Without the corruption, Alejandro's family wouldn't have died, he could have prosecuted and won cases that would have put these Cartel members away forever.
I think Silvio sealed his fate inside the cruiser when he asked that Alejandro not kill him because he had a son. That probably made Alejandro sure he needed to die, here is a man who's action cause the death of so many people, but when under pressure, he whines like a bitch.
Once Alejandro kills Diaz and his family, what is he left with? His revenge it seems is complete. Is he of any use again to the CIA and Graver? How does he extract back to the US?
The really unique thing in this is that we never see any particular loyalty from Graver to Alejandro until the second movie and without Alejandro the team might have been hurt in that ambush on the bridge, Alejandro was the key to observing what was happening and breaking the attempted ambush.
Kate wanted to play by the rules, but the situation and the rules had changed. When she and Reggie went to her boss, he as much as told them they had and to shut up and play by the new rules.
Also remember that tunnel goes from the United States to Mexico. Anything being done inside that tunnel by Graver and the Delta Team right up and until they crossed in to Mexico was good to go.
The you come to the point where you cross the border, or cross that line.
Alejandro crossed the line for revenge, but legally he could, he wan't bound by the same rules as Kate. Once Kate crossed the line, She no longer had the legal authority to do so, or to stop Alejandro.
Once again, Kate wanted to play but the rules, but did she really?
You see a couple of dozen dead bodies behind some dry wall, you see some partners get an IED and you still don"t get it? To emphasize this, her partner introduces her to a Cop that she saw at a baseball game and he decides to choke her to death while they are having sex, hmmm, so the rules haven't changed for Kate yet?
Speaking of her partner, that's a shady guy. Always on the edge of the conversation and listening in, not chosen by Graver to work with the team, and introduces Kate to Ted who is a corrupt Cop (Did Graver perhaps have an idea he was?) who nearly kills her.

Alejandro didn't kill Kate because he couldn't, just like Kate had the chance, but couldn't kill Alejandro.
Alejandro is a tragic dude, well right up until the last of the Second movie, anyway.

[VARIABLE9]

Negative Ghostrider. He wasn’t going to kill her in the first movie, he knew she would sign with some leverage. She reminded him of his little girl (or his wife IDR). I haven’t seen 2 (will tomorrow) but I foresaw how he would want to protect ‘the little girl’ from the trailer. It’s all about making Sicario 3 probably.

SPOILERS


And I called it. It’s some cobbled together story to make S3.

Katherine Keener (so?) is terrible and her role in The Shadow Government is not believable.
Too much dialogue altogether, and not enough moody music or beautiful cinematography of S1.
Totally unbelievable linkage throughout the story for the young cousin turned mule future sicario assistant.
Totally complicated story, the first Alejandro was more silent and distant. This one he’s conversational.
When did the fat lawyer get out of the armored Brabus Merc?
I thought vengeance was served at the end of S1, then apparently killing the fat lawyer gave vengeance. No! Now there’s the head of the cartel yet?
And ‘the CIA made him’, which was both backstory and foreshadowing because now it’s Alejandro versus Matt & Steve in S3 (plus also versus the cartel boss [‘big boss’ right]).
Or because Matt puts her into Witness Protection does Alejandro just focus on the cartel?
And why the f did they have a large scale black op warehouse ‘gearing up scene’ with the girl looking out through Levolor blinds so she could ‘know everything’.

Sure, of course I’ll watch S3.

[Honu]

fun watch about the prev one

[Watrdawg]

I saw the movie last night and and left there thinking where is the grand finale? It's like the whole movie teetered on getting to a big ending that never happened. At the very end when Del Toro said to the kid "Let's talk about your future" what popped into my mind was that this whole movie was laying down the ground work for the next sequel. Overall I was disappointed.

[Whiskey_Bravo]

I saw the movie last night and and left there thinking where is the grand finale? It's like the whole movie teetered on getting to a big ending that never happened. At the very end when Del Toro said to the kid "Let's talk about your future" what popped into my mind was that this whole movie was laying down the ground work for the next sequel. Overall I was disappointed.

my thoughts exactly.

[Doc Safari]

SPOILER



I saw it last night at the cheapo theater. I agree it was fine until the ending. He gets shot through the cheek without even losing any teeth? And the other bad guys didn't notice where the wound was? I'd think real thugs would have said, "Not good enough, kid. Let him have another one."

And the deaf couple living in the middle of nowhere? That's likely to happen.

Glad I didn't pay full price to see it.