Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Thursday 28 June 2018

In ‘Day of the Soldado,’ an equally bleak ‘Sicario’

By JAKE COYLE
Associated Press
There’s an oppressive
bleakness to the brutal
action-thriller “Sicario: Day
of the Soldado.” But with
faces like Josh Brolin and
Benicio del Toro, what are
you going to do?
Amid the dust cloud of vio-
lence that settles over the
“Sicario” sequel, nothing
stands out like the furrowed
brow of Brolin’s grimace or
the cold, worn-out stare
of del Toro. They look like
gunslingers from an An-
thony Mann or Sam Peck-
inpah western, just with
heavier ammo and dark
sunglasses. With such sunk-
en, world-weary eyes, in
the heyday of film noir del
Toro and Brolin would have
made a killing.
They do plenty of that, too,
in “Sicario: Day of the Sol-
dado.” Matt Graver (Bro-
lin) and his cartel lawyer This image released by Sony Pictures shows Josh Brolin, from left, Jeffrey Donovan and Benicio Del Toro in “Sicario: Day of the
turned undercover pal Ale- Soldado.” Associated Press
jandro Gillick (del Toro) are in Denis Villeneuve’s “Sicar- lick wouldn’t bat an eye at der, “Sicario” mostly stood even if it’s unclear how
again called into action io” (2015). — you know, sissy stuff like for a ruthless, borderless much Graver ever heeded
in a black-ops operation Blunt played a less experi- dozens of decaying corps- American power equal- the rules in the first place.
along the Mexico border, enced FBI agent with the es stuffed like insulation ing the ultra-violence of a Where “Day of the Solda-
this time without the benefit naivety to be horrified by into a Mexican cartel safe new era, with all the moral do” most succeeds is in the
of Emily Blunt, who starred things that Graver and Gil- house. No, Graver and just- doubt that accompanies blur or maybe altogether
as-grave Gillick have seen such a fight. “Day of the disintegration of Ameri-
it all. And Blunt’s absence Soldado” begins with a can altruism in a heinous
leaves “Day of Soldado” similar stab at political rel- fight. In one scene, Gillick
without the mounting sense evance. A supermarket in switches from kidnapper to
of dread that defined the Kansas City is attacked by DEA agent by unhurriedly
first one. a swarm of suicide bomb- slipping on a government
It also lacks the muscular ers, the last of whom we jacket, but not changing
camera work of Villeneuve watch detonate his vest gun or even his seat.
and cinematographer just as a mother and child Things go from dark to
Roger Deakins. With such are trying to tiptoe past. darker still, as “Day of the
missing talent, it would be Sheridan and Sollima could Soldado” sets its genre tale
easy to view “Day of the easily defend the imagery: against the backdrop of
Soldado” as a cheaper This is indeed a not uncom- Mexican migrants in a way
knockoff. Easier, still, con- mon happening. But it’s a that sometimes feels topi-
sidering the movie’s poster sensationalist way to show cal and sometimes exploi-
— of a gun-toting skeleton it. Is there anyone left who tive. As grim as the world of
draped in a flag — most doesn’t understand the “Sicario” is — and Sollima
resembles a Guns N’ Roses horror of terrorism? and Sheridan really wants
album cover. It’s believed the bombers us to know just how grim it is
It’s better than that, but were jihadis who infiltrat- — there’s also a sentimen-
not by much. Stefano Sol- ed the country by slipping tal stab at redemption by
lima (“Gomorrah”) steps in through the Mexican bor- way of the kingpin daugh-
to direct a script by Taylor der. Told that the cartels ter (played by a very good
Sheridan, whose neo-west- control the trafficking of Isabela Moner), who ends
erns (“Hell or High Water,” migrants over the border, up in a desert trek with Gil-
‘’Wind River”) have made the Secretary of Defense lick.
him the genre’s best new (Matthew Modine) opts Still, there’s a mean po-
hope. Sheridan wrote “Si- to clandestinely prompt a tency to the borderland
cario,” too, which sought war between two cartels. noir of both “Sicario” films,
to modernize the drug-war Graver’s plan is to kidnap enough that it sometimes
thriller to catch it up to the the 12-year-old daughter recalls another tale of ex-
lethal battles of today’s of a cartel kingpin to kick- plosions and drug enforce-
cartels. start the war. ment agents on both sides
But in its ballet of SUVS “There are no rules this of the border: Orson Welles’
sweeping across the bor- time,” Graver tells Gillick, “Touch of Evil.”q