Sicario 2: Soldado

Set around three years after the events of Sicario, the US government believe that Mexican drug cartels are now smuggling terrorists across the border, and decide to take measures. Matt Graver (Josh Brolin – Dead Pool 2) is brought in to meet with the Secretary of Defence to discuss his new mission: to start a war between the two biggest Mexican drug cartels. Their plan is to abduct (then return) the daughter of the leaders of one cartel, while posing as the other.

He recruits Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro – Star Wars: The Last Jedi, The Usual Suspects), a highly trained ex-assassin always eager for revenge on the cartel leader ultimately responsible for the death of his family. Things go sideways fast when their team is ambushed by the Mexican police, and have to kill them. The daughter, Isabel (Isabela Moner – Transformers: The Last Knight) sees everything, so Matt orders her killed to cover it up. Alejandro refuses, and the two use all their military knowledge and tactics against the other to save or kill Isabel.

This film may seem politically minded, but this is just a backdrop and not its focus – this is an action film through-and-through. The scene where Matt interrogates a prisoner, and the chase across the desert, are both tense, brutal and heavy on the violence. Gripping from the start to the finish, this is certainly not for the squeamish.

Gail Marshall