Sicario: Day of the Soldado
2018 · Directed by Stefano Sollima
Original language: English
- action
- crime
- thriller
The story
Agent Matt Graver teams up with operative Alejandro Gillick to prevent Mexican drug cartels from smuggling terrorists across the United States border.
What it’s like
Desaturated desert light and a bleached, dusty palette give this film a hard, sun-scorched look, with night scenes in cold blue and sodium-orange where the cartel corridors and border checkpoints turn the landscape into a place of menace. Cinematographer-driven framing favours wide, still shots of empty highways and scrubland, cut with tight handheld moments during raids and shootouts that feel close and jolting. The score is a low, pulsing synth drone with sudden percussive hits, so the quiet stretches carry as much dread as the gunfire. Violence is frequent and sharp: shootouts, explosions, and brutal close-quarters killings, with some graphic gore and a few harrowing scenes involving a child. The pace is slow to build, then abruptly violent, and the tone is grim and morally hollow, centred on two hardened men whose bond is pragmatic rather than warm. It suits late-night viewing for people who want tense, gritty crime drama and can handle sustained brutality; it is not a gentle or comforting watch.
More films like Sicario: Day of the Soldado
Closest in mood, pacing and theme. Tell us why you loved Sicario: Day of the Soldadoand we’ll explain which ones fit you.
