An excerpt from my script review for Sicario 2: Soldado which will be available 07/02/18:
2.) Plot Stability
Could the Sicario series be the new Taken?
I’m not talking about stealing the plot, but just how many times can someone be kidnapped in Taken before Liam Neeson wises the fuck up?
Shit, I went to see Taken 3, knowing what it would be, but as the Cap’n mentioned to me once, Liam’s getting up there in age, and it felt like everyone starring with him had to slow down for him to keep up.
He had a hard time jumping the fences, but not the shark.
(We could argue the Bourne movies are the same as well.)
That’s how I felt reading this script.
We’ve seen most of this stuff in the first one.
What I enjoyed in the with that script were the subplots involving the minor characters, displaying the corruption of life on the Mexican/US border. Stories that were then interconnected by the end.
This film starts out with that same techinique, but instead of keeping it short, we spend too much time with them, and again, we’ve seen it all before.
All of Alejandro’s “existential” bullshit about Mexico not being worth saving got old too.
We get it, brother, they murdered your family and you had to become a hitman to do anything about it, but sooner or later, you stop sounding like this badass sage and more like a broken record.
In fact, we’re even treated to what felt like a shot by shot duplicate of him drowning someone in the sea while staring off into the distance.
The story was still interesting, and setting aside my argument that the plot isn’t anything new, another major issue was it took far too long to get to what this film should have been about…
Alejandro and Isabel on the Mexican side of the border running from drug lords but also keeping her alive and away from Matt who had orders to dispose of her.
That part never really panned out, since Matt just ultimately disobeys orders and saves her anyway.
She was never in jeopardy from him and his team (the real threat) so I wasn’t worried.
Lastly, the ending felt almost identical to the first film as well, where Alejandro takes out and entire house full of bad guys at once…and we don’t get to see it.
Personally, and aside from the underdeveloped migrant plot, I was hoping for something with a similar tone to the first film, but a unique plot.
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