SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO is the second movie in the SICARIO trilogy. It dips more into the illegal immigration problem between the United States and Mexico while also not revealing anything new about the corruption between the Mexican police and the drug cartels (while exploring the cartel's smuggling of people from Mexico into Texas). This second movie revolves around the CIA launching a new operation to cause a war between the cartels by kidnapping Isabella Reyes, the daughter of one of the cartels (after terrorists have been transported into the USA (by the cartels) to commit terror attacks). It shows how dirty a government is willing to go in the name of national security. CIA agent Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) recruits hit man Gillick (Benicio del Toro) to help with the operation. The end of the operation doesn't go as planned and Gillick decides he needs to protect Isabella and get her to safety.

SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO is a solid sequel, but I do question if SICARIO needed a sequel in the first place (and the ending does set it up for a third movie). Gillick doesn't really grow as a character as he seems to be retconned for the sequel (as I thought his quest for revenge was satisfied in the first movie). It is a gritty and brutal sequel. The cast is top notch. The film is directed well by Stefano Sollima, but the sequel does miss out on the master combo of director Denis Villeneuve and his director of photography who were committed to do BLADE RUNNER 2049. The third SICARIO might be as good as the first if Villeneuve returns to direct. The producers have already started developing a third movie for the trilogy, but I will see it too as I wonder if SICARIO ever really needed a sequel or two in the first place.

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