How Alejandro Survived

Is Alejandro A Changed Man At The End Of Sicario 2?

Since he is the main character in the movie, Sicario 2‘s ending including a scene in which Alejandro is sH๏τ in the head was quite shocking. Although he’s presumed ᴅᴇᴀᴅ, the sH๏τ by Miguel Hernandez — the up-and-coming smuggler seen throughout the film — it ended up simply being a close call. It’s not stated explicitly, but it appears that Miguel spared Alejandro’s life, shooting him in the jaw and leading to serious blood loss but nothing fatal.

In Sicario, Alejandro was working with the CIA primarily so that he could kill Fausto Alarcón, the man who murdered his wife and family. While there is a sense that the audience wants Alejandro to get his revenge, when he does, he makes the shocking decision to murder Alarcón’s family as well. Day Of The Soldado explores Alejandro beginning to question his choices and whether he is becoming the kind of man who he insists on hunting. Sicario 2 ends with him truly “free” — he’s presumed ᴅᴇᴀᴅ by the CIA and so able to operate without any oversight.

What Does Alejandro Want With Miguel?

The Final Scene Could Be Revenge Or The Start Of A New Chapter

The final scene of Sicario 2 takes place one year after the main events of the film, picking up with Miguel now fully embodying his gang member position: his arms are covered in tattoos, his hair crew cut, and his clothing chequered. He goes to visit his cousin’s work in the mall, only to be confronted by Alejandro, sporting only a small scar as a reminder of their previous encounter. At first fearful, it’s clear Alejandro has no revenge plan on Miguel: “you want to be a Sicario?” he asks, then closes the door.

Even for the frank presentation of Sicario 2, this is a highly ambiguous note to end on. The implication, of course, is that Alejandro recognizes the act of compᴀssion and sees Miguel as a potential student. He does, after all, have the stomach to stand against authority even while looking to be part of it, just as Alejandro has been in the previous two movies.

How The Ending Sets Up Sicario 3

Three Key Characters Need To Intersect

The ending of Sicario 2 suggests that going into Sicario 3, Alejandro will have an apprentice of sorts, someone to help him in his quest for Reyes from the inside. This mission is the real overarching narrative, and now the тιтular hitman has truly been set loose. Of course, this will also put him on a collision course with the authorities, as Alejandro is now operating on his own.

The interesting hook for Sicario 3, though, is the reintroduction of Kate Mercer. The producers want Emily Blunt to reprise her role, and the narrative almost demands it. Sicario 2 saw Matt question his place in the crime-fighting world in a direct mirror to how she did in the first Sicario. The two movies have brought two very different people much more ideologically close than they ever thought possible. That relationship and potential clashes or partnerships are just as exciting as a gang war.

Sicario: Day of the Soldado is a murkier movie than Sicario, in both the presentation of the American drug war and how it discusses its themes. That’s mainly because the message is less clear-cut, and so the movie struggles to fully define itself. What it does incredibly successfully, though, is move the pieces in position for a third entry while very much feeling like a standalone film. There is a sense that the third movie could see the war fought on three different terms: Kate’s idealistic approach, Matt’s government-sanctioned and morally dubious tactics, and Alejandro’s no-rules warfare.

The Real Meaning Of Sicario 2’s Ending

The United States Government Is Lethal In The Drug Wars

The real meaning of the Sicario: Day of the Soldado ending is simply that the United States government will do anything to win its war on drugs. This includes killing its own people, its own agents, and even innocent bystanders if it means achieving whatever its goal is at the time. The minute that the government officials ordered Matt to kill their own ᴀssᴀssin just to cover up what they were doing, they proved there are no good guys in this war, and it is really just everyone out for themselves.

The ending also showed that Miguel choosing not to kill Alejandro means he has more integrity as a bad guy than the U.S. government did as the so-called heroes in the war. Matt crossed the line to protect Isabel, which could lead to punishment from his take-no-prisoners commanding officers. Still, he would easily have murdered Alejandro in cold blood if forced into the situation under the CIA’s orders, so he is no better than anyone else on either side of the border.

When Alejandro offered to take Miguel under his wing, the Sicario: Day of the Soldado ending also had another hidden meaning. While the United States has no problem ordering the murder of even innocent civilians to cover up its part in the drug wars, these killings often help create new enemies in the future. Alejandro, once a loyal ally to the U.S. CIA forces, was expandable, and now he and Miguel might prove to be major enemies of the U.S. if their hands are forced in the future.

How The Sicario 2 Ending Was Received

The Climax Of The Sequel Didn’t Match The Original

Overall, the ending of Sicario: Day of the Soldado was received well by critics and viewers, as evidenced by the continued demand for a sequel years after Sicario 2 released in 2018. However, it’s clear that Sicario 2 wasn’t as much of a hit as the original, as evidenced by Day of the Soldado’s 62% Rotten Tomatoes score vs the 92% score of the 2015 original. However, the difference between the two doesn’t hinge on the ending for the most part.

The narrative and ending of Sicario 2 were singled out by multiple critics as being highlights of the 2018 movie. In particular, how the intersecting storylines came together at the climax of Day of the Soldado impressed many reviewers. For example, critic Jimi Famurewa for Empire pointed out that a mildly complex opening gave way to a thrilling and action-packed viewing experience that showcased the best skills of director Stefano Sollima:

[The opening] is quite a fiddly lead-in to the narrative meat of [Sicario 2]. But it eventually clicks the detonator on a breakneck series of set-pieces that showcase Sollima’s eye for authentically chaotic, practical stuntwork.

However, Famurewa also points out a recurring criticism some had with the Sicario 2 ending – though not one that was problematic enough to impact the quality of the movie overall. Considering the gritty realism of Sicario 2 and 2015’s Sicario, some critics like Femurewa felt that certain aspects of the ending of Day of the Soldado didn’t fit with the tone. While this wasn’t enough to land the movie a negative review (Femurewa still gave Sicario 2 four stars), he and many other critics felt that leaning a little too hard into Hollywood action tropes diminished the final act:

Intersecting with Miguel’s tale, things hurtle to an inevitably bloody and nihilistic conclusion. Or at least they do until, at the very last moment, a touch of comic book implausibility bleeds into Sicario’s captivatingly bleak, grimly realistic world. The longterm reasoning behind the decision is clear enough. But you can’t shake the feeling that — for the sake of a myth-stretching trilogy — we have been denied a near-flawless two-movie statement.

Ultimately, comparisons to 2015’s Sicario were unavoidable for Sicario 2, and it’s perhaps here that criticisms for the ending of Day of the Soldado suffered. Many critics and viewers, such as Emily Yoshida in her review for Vulture, had high expectations that the Sicario sequel simply failed to meet by the climax:

There is something compelling about Soldado’s violence, though it contains nothing so memory searing as its predecessor’s most tense setpieces.

How Likely Is Sicario 3?

Too Much Time May Have Pᴀssed

While there are many fans and critics who feel that Sicario 2 fell short of the original movie, there is still a lot of enthusiasm for the story to continue with a third entry. As mentioned, there are some interesting approaches the next movie could take, with the most exciting being focused on the return of Emily Blunt’s Kate Macer. However, with it now being seven years since Sicario 2 was released, the likelihood of that sequel coming together is looking worse with each pᴀssing day.

While there has been little talk of Sicario 3 recently, the latest news does not paint a very optimistic picture of its chances. There were reports of Mission: Impossible director Christopher McQuarrie coming aboard for the third Sicario movie, but he has since dropped out, while Taylor Sheridan’s involvement in writing the third movie is more doubtful now. While it is good news that no one seems eager to move ahead until the story is right, the delays hurt the chances of it ever happening.

Having so much time pᴀss before reuniting the characters of the original movie, including Kate, feels odd as Sicario 3 would have worked best as a relatively quick follow-up to the second movie. It is possible the third movie could go in another direction and continue to simply focus on Alejandro, but that would feel like a missed opportunity to bring closure to the story that began it all. Unfortunately, with no movement on the sequel, Sicario 3 may never happen in any form.