Sicario was a brilliant action thriller written by Taylor Sheridan, but its sequel was a disappointment that deviated too far from the original. Released in 2015, Sicario saw Sheridan and Denis Villeneuve teaming up as writer and director of this intense thriller. It explores a covert operation by the US to take down Mexican drug cartels, with the mission crossing lines.

Sicario was a mᴀssive hit with fans and critics, earning 92% on Rotten Tomatoes and scoring at the box office, with $85 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo). Since then, Sicario has only become more popular with audiences, being regarded as one of Villeneuve’s best movies as well as Sheridan’s finest screenplay.

Not surprisingly, the success of the movie led to a sequel. Villeneuve did not return to direct, but Sheridan did write the second movie. Unfortunately, both his script and the direction by Stefano Sollima lost sight of what worked the first time.

Sicario: Day Of The Soldado Is Absolutely Nothing Like Its Predecessor

Sicario’s Grounded Feel Is Missing From The Follow-up

Sicario: Day of the Soldado was the second movie in the franchise and a drastic step down from Sicario. The differences between the two movies can be seen immediately by contrasting the opening scenes. Sicario delivers a pulse-pounding action sequence that brilliantly uses its music and camera work to create a grounded yet hard-hitting police raid sequence.

Sicario: Sicario: Day of the Soldado opens with a sequence linking illegal immigration to terrorist attacks, with a bombing sequence that is not particularly interesting and is meant to sensationalize. Right away, Sicario: Day of the Soldado loses the grounded feel that made the first movie so effective.

Sicario put audiences on the edge of their seats throughout the movie with the sense of dread that danger could erupt at any moment. Sicario: Day of the Soldado is much more interested in set pieces that are brash, loud, and feel like they are out of any typical action movie.

The ending of Sicario presents a complex resolution that perfectly fits the exploration of moral grayness. Sicario: Day of the Soldado makes a choice with the fate of one key character that once again separates the movie from reality and distracts from what comes next. It all comes to an end in a more traditional way, robbed of the layers of its predecessor.

Sicario: Day Of The Soldado Withered Without Emily Blunt’s Return

The Franchise Forgot Its Most Important Character

Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin each returned for Sicario: Day of the Soldado, playing Alejandro and Matt, respectively. However, the missing character of Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) proves to be one of the main issues with the sequel, despite del Toro and Brolin giving solid performances.

Without Kate, Alejandro is made the protagonist of the story, something ill-fitting for the character. While Alejandro is a major part of the first movie, he works best while remaining mysterious. In fact, del Toro wisely cut many of his own lines from the original movie to maintain that aspect of the character.

Sicario: Day of the Soldado brings Alejandro out of the shadows and quickly makes him much less interesting. The same is true of Matt, a character whose seeming ambivalence paints an eerie picture of these clandestine operations. The sequel forces him to make choices that show a sense of conscience.

Kate was meant to be the one the audience follows throughout the movie, as she was the one we understood. Seeing her exposed to the more complicated world was much more effective than seeing Alejandro and Matt operating their over-the-top missions. Without Kate, Sicario: Day of the Soldado feels like it has no point of view.

It is unclear what happens to Kate after Sicario, but if the franchise is going to continue, it has to do so with her. There is no point in continuing this story unless it is an exploration of Kate’s reaction to her experiences in Sicario, which is what the sequel should have been all along.