Sicario 2: Day of the Soldado (2018) (1 Viewer)

[Jake Lipson]

If you go over to the Facebook page for Sicario, there was a live interview this morning with Josh Brolin and Bencio del Toro that was interesting. Since it was embedded in Facebook rather than on YouTube, I don't think it can be put here, but it's worth looking up if you're interested. Unfortunately, they didn't take any fan questions which I thought was unfortunate since I had a good on, but it was still interesting to hear what they had to say about the new film.

Also, slightly off-topic but it should be of interest to Sicario fans, so I just wanted to put it out there that Taylor Sheridan's TV series which he created, Yellowstone, is premiering next week on Paramount Network (Formerly Spike TV) on June 20. It's a Western starring Kevin Costner. I'm down for pretty much anything he writes at this point, so I am really looking forward to it, and for anybody else who feels the same, maybe we can discuss it at length over in the TV section of the board once it airs.

 

[Jake Lipson]

The producer says Sicario 3 is already under discussion:

https://movieweb.com/sicario-3-movie-happening/

As a huge fan of the first film, I'm glad it looks like Taylor Sheridan will get to complete the trilogy he's been talking about for it and hope the box office for the second one bears that out. After Incredibles 2, which I'm seeing today, this one is easily my most anticipated film for the rest of the summer.

 

[George_W_K]

I think Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is the reason I've been worried about how 2 is going to turn out. I should let it go.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I think Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is the reason I've been worried about how 2 is going to turn out.

I don't really understand the connection between Jack Reacher 2 and Sicario 2. Other than the fact that they are both sequels, what does one have to do with the other? I'm not aware of anyone who overlapped on those two films.

 

[George_W_K]

Just my personal feeling about how Jack Reacher was a really good movie and the sequel was a really big disappointment. So when I see the trailer for this my fear of this sequel going to down the same path may be coloring my expectations. I'm leary of the direction it may take, despite Sheridan's involvement which should really give me confidence.

Jack Reacher came out of no where for me as did Sicario. Didn't mean to imply these films were alike, other than how I enjoyed each of them.

 

[Jake Lipson]

The first reactions out of press screenings are here and they're really good: http://www.slashfilm.com/sicario-day-of-the-soldado-early-buzz/

Also, Emily Blunt could return for Sicario 3. Maybe. Everybody should go see this one, and hopefully in success they get to do the third and bring her back. https://www.cinemablend.com/news/24...ly-blunt-back-heres-what-one-producer-told-us.

 

[Malcolm R]

I picked up the blu-ray of the first film for $5 at Walmart last weekend (in a big dump bin of blu's).

 

[George_W_K]

The first reactions out of press screenings are here and they're really good: http://www.slashfilm.com/sicario-day-of-the-soldado-early-buzz/

Also, Emily Blunt could return for Sicario 3. Maybe. Everybody should go see this one, and hopefully in success they get to do the third and bring her back. https://www.cinemablend.com/news/24...ly-blunt-back-heres-what-one-producer-told-us.

I'll be there.

 

[Wayne_j]

The TV spots are making me angry. They only say that the movie is called "Sicario", that is inaccurate as that movie came out 2-3 years ago.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I haven't sen the TV spots that you're referring to, Wayne, but perhaps the thinking is that Sicario is the word Sony needs moviegoers to remember. When people go up to the box office to buy a ticket for the movie, most probably won't take the time to say "One for Sicario: Day of the Soldado," they'll probably just say "one for Sicario."

While of course we know that isn't the full title of this specific movie and will be reflected as such on screen, the fact that "Day of the Soldado" is a subtitle makes "Sicario" the name of the franchise overall.

I'm not going to split hairs about how Sony gets people into the theater on this on, so long as they come.

 

[Wayne_j]

This is the TV spot I have seen on TV.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I see your point. But "Day of the Soldado" is still in the title on screen at the end of the spot, and everything I said in my above post #50 stands.

 

[George_W_K]

No one has seen this yet this weekend? Work got in the way for me.

 

[Sam Posten]

The first one way waaaay better. This one was ok tho.

 

[DavidJ]

What Sam said regarding the comparison to the first one, but I think this one is better than ok. It is solid and has some great moments. Brutal at times as is expected.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I saw it today and really loved it. The first one is one of my favorite movies of the last few years, so it's a hard bar to live up to, but this one absolutely earns its place alongside it.

In some respects, it felt more like a spinoff than a sequel because the situation and so many of the characters were so new relative to what we saw in the first one, but that was okay. The fact that they didn't really call back to the first one made it easier to accept the fact that Emily Blunt and those around her didn't return.

In the first one, Kate (Emily Blunt) served as the audience surrogate bringing us into this world she and we were unfamiliar with, and I knew she wasn't back, but I found it interesting that there was no attempt made to replace her in the sense of creating a new character to serve the same function for the narrative. That was a bold choice, and I liked it, but I also liked that they didn't try to shove her into a story where she didn't belong. I continue to love Taylor Sheridan's writing and I loved the complexity of this world that he created, and Matt and Alejandro are compelling enough as characters to support the film on their own. The evolution of Alejandro, in particular, from where we meet him in the first one through this one to the end of this one is a really strong and compelling arc.

And yet, this one also works as a standalone film. If it reaches people who didn't see the first one, it's still going to work for those audiences, which is good. Because Sony has been marketing this more aggressively and is taking it wider than Lionsgate did on the first film, it does seem like they are trying to expand the audience out, and the movie will be successful in that regard because it strikes a nice balance. For the people who saw the first one, this deepens the characters who come back, but for new audiences, you can jump on board with this as a perfectly understandable entry point, which is not always the case with sequels.

I thought Isabea Moner was fantastic in the role of Isabella, and really did a great job playing off of Brolin and Del Toro in her scenes with them. I hope we see more of her.

Without spoiling anything, the ending of this one is certainly more overt in terms of setting up a sequel than the last one was, but that was fine with me. I'm really curious to see where things go from here.

Sony was projecting an opening in the mid-teen millions earlier in the week, and it looks like it's going to be more like $19 million according to the latest projections as of tonight. Wherever it lands, that's got to be considered a good start, since the first one had $46m as its domestic final. This isn't a scientific measurement at all, but my theater was fairly full without being totally packed, and had several people in all rows except the very front of the auditorium. The audience was larger than that for Deadpool 2 or Solo when I saw those on their opening weekends (although they were on more screens.) Still, my theater has 3 screens of this right now, which is more than I thought they would need, and I kind of expected the crowd to be thin as a result. But there was a good size audience there. I was the only on to clap at the end, but I heard people talking about it on the way out, which is a good sig.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Can you believe I never viewed the first film. I'm going to try to watch my 4K/UHD disc tomorrow so I can watch this sequel this week in a movie theater.

 

[Mark-P]

Can you believe I never viewed the first film. I'm going to try to watch my 4K/UHD disc tomorrow so I can watch this sequel this week in a movie theater.

What??? And you call yourself a Taylor Sheridan fan!

 

[Robert Crawford]

What??? And you call yourself a Taylor Sheridan fan!

Yeah, I know, I've seen parts of it, but not the film in its entirety. I'm going to remedy that later today.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Can you believe I never viewed the first film.

I fully endorse watching them in order. But what's interesting is that you would actually be able to understand this one fully whether you saw that one or not, which is not always the case on second films.