In the wake of the bloody aftermath of 'Sicario' the narrative shifts in the direction of Josh Brolin's character Matt Graver. Known in the government for his carefree ability to carry out military dirty work on foreign soil with savage efficiency. On the endlessly grimy US-Mexican border, terrorists are being smuggled through to Texas hidden as immigrants. After a harrowing suicide-bomb attack tears through a shopping mall, the cartel is elevated to 'terrorist' status, freeing the military's ability to intervene on activities across the border. Matt is assigned to mitigate a war between the cartel leaders by feigning the kidnap of a leader's daughter. He again recruits an ever volatile and revenge driven Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro) to aid in the undertaking of this dangerous and gritty mission. Following the monumental critical success of the first installment, 'Day of the Soldado' is poised for triumph. The first act is excellent, a chilling sequence of events introducing the buildup to the terror attack and subsequent reaction of the government. Filmed with military precision and establishing the ruthless 'no rules' attitude the characters are still willing to adopt. The action scenes are thrilling and realistic, bullet casings clanging off surfaces and distressing blood mists heighten the viewers immersion. Brolin and Del Toro turn in excellent performances as dogged soldiers with a complex balance of mutual respect and conflict of interest. Credit to Stefano Sollima for directing many gripping action sequences and an overall accomplished movie. Dariusz Wolski steps up from an accomplished portfolio to produce a pleasing visual landscape. Although both screenplays are written by the extraordinarily talented Taylor Sheridan, 'Day of the Soldado' suffers from some plot flaws and struggles to conclusively tie up loose ends. The particularly perplexing decision for Alejandro's character to abruptly deeply care for the captive Isabel Reyes (Isabela Moner) doesn't seem to be an action that his character would make even in spite of his lost family. Furthermore, the government's unexpected decision to wipe clean the mission also appears to be a sudden change of events that doesn't quite hold up with the tempo. Unfortunately, the beautiful nuances dripping from every scene of the original aren't entirely successfully built upon (think - spellbinding 'bridge attack' and edge of the seat 'covert night assault'). The film certainly stands up to the original but suffers from the loss of Denis Villeneuve (Director), Rodger Deakins (Cinematography) and the late Jóhann Jóhannsson (Music). What this instead produces is an action movie rather than a seething complex drama. A great sequel which makes for a thrilling and captivating watch. Fortunately for audiences, 'Day of the Soldado' is the second installment in a proposed trilogy. "So. You want to be a Sicario?". Overall: 7.5

From 10 stars I deducted following stars for: * instigating hate and racism by creating evil stereotypes (and later, when the emotions are already created telling in a minor side-mark that the stereotype was false - clever move to wash the producer's hands in innocense) * misleading trailer purposely cutting out its xenophobic connotations * jumping around back and forth in the story with no clear script-line * unrealistic scenarios for the sake of justifying action * inconsistent character-development so I could not really relate to anyone * after having painted certain groups as enemies their deaths become numbers, justifying a massacre whilst the main characters with faces are saved just as the obligatory dog always is saved in each disaster movie * a total unbelievable twist of someone's fate * a dissatisfying "ending" which obviously is only designed to justify sequels for uncritical action-fans.

It didn't feel there was as much action as in the first one . a bit draggy at times . no head dizzying cg . plenty of senseless killing . a nice set up for the next episode . hopefully it will be well directed .

It seems Mexican cartels, as suggested by Fox News are bringing terrorists across the southern border. When a mall in middle American becomes a target, cartels are labeled as terrorists which changes how we deal with them. The brain child idea is to kidnap the daughter of Kingpin Reyes, and start a war among the cartels, because they never fight with each other. This gets hosed, because all Mexican police work for the cartels. Film has interesting twists, I just couldn't get into it. Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.