Sicario and Sicario: Day of the Soldado A Ultimate Honest Complete Review of Both Powerful Thriller Films

Introduction: Why These Two Films Still Hit Hard

If you love crime thrillers that don’t sugarcoat reality, then Sicario (2015) and Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018) are two films you cannot skip. These movies dive deep into the dark world of drug cartels, border violence and moral ambiguity. They are not easy watches but they are unforgettable ones.

This Sicario and Sicario: Day of the Soldado complete review covers everything: plot, cast performances, direction, cinematography, box office numbers, budgets and the final verdict. Whether you’re a first time viewer or revisiting these films, this guide is for you.

Let’s get into it.

Sicario (2015) The Film That Changed Everything

Quick Facts at a Glance

Plot Summary What Is Sicario About?

The word sicario means hitman in Spanish and the film lives up to that grim title.

The story follows Kate Macer (played by Emily Blunt), a committed FBI agent who joins a shadowy government task force. This task force is led by the mysterious Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) and the even more mysterious Alejandro Gillick (Benicio Del Toro). Their mission: disrupt the operations of a major Mexican drug cartel.

At first, Kate thinks she’s on a routine operation. But as the story unfolds, she realizes the mission is far more personal, darker and morally complicated than she was told. Rules get broken. Lines get crossed. And by the end, you’re left questioning what justice even means.

The film is not just an action movie. It’s a study of how systems governments, law enforcement, cartels all use violence to achieve their goals. Kate becomes the audience’s moral compass, watching in horror as the world around her gets darker.

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Cast and Performances

Emily Blunt as Kate Macer This was arguably one of Emily Blunt’s greatest performances. She plays Kate with quiet strength and deep emotional honesty. You feel her confusion and horror as the mission unfolds. Blunt was so convincing that many critics called this her career best role.

Benicio Del Toro as Alejandro Gillick This is where the film truly shines. Del Toro plays a cartel consultant with a mysterious past. He says very little but communicates everything through his eyes. His performance earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Cold, haunted and terrifyingly calm.

Josh Brolin as Matt Graver Brolin brings a casual, almost cheerful energy to a man doing deeply dark work. He’s likable and frightening at the same time. That contrast is brilliant.

Jeffrey Donovan, Daniel Kaluuya and Victor Garber round out a supporting cast that feels authentic and grounded. Daniel Kaluuya, in particular, shows early glimpses of the charisma that would later make him a major star.

Direction Denis Villeneuve at His Best

Denis Villeneuve is one of the most talented directors working today. He also made Prisoners, Arrival and Dune and each film shows his signature style: slow, deliberate tension that builds until it explodes.

In Sicario, Villeneuve uses silence and space as weapons. He doesn’t rush. He lets scenes breathe. That patience makes the action sequences feel more violent by contrast. The famous tunnel sequence near the end is pure cinematic tension almost unbearable in the best possible way.

His direction encourages you to think, not just react. That’s rare in modern Hollywood.

Cinematography Roger Deakins Is a Legend

Cinematographer Roger Deakins deserves special mention. His work in Sicario is some of the best in modern film. He uses wide, open desert landscapes to create a sense of isolation and dread. The golden hour light over the border feels beautiful and dangerous at the same time.

There is a sequence shot entirely through thermal infrared cameras an overhead view of soldiers descending into tunnels. It is visually stunning and deeply unsettling. Deakins received an Academy Award nomination for this work and it’s easy to see why.

Soundtrack Jóhann Jóhannsson’s Dark Masterpiece

The score by the late Jóhann Jóhannsson is a character in itself. It’s deep, rumbling and full of dread. The music tells you something is wrong even before the visuals catch up. Combined with Deakins’ camera work, the sound design makes Sicario one of the most immersive films of the decade.

Themes and Messages

Sicario asks uncomfortable questions: Can the government operate outside the law in the name of fighting crime? Is it okay to be a monster if you’re fighting monsters? Does morality matter in a war where the rules are already broken?

There are no easy answers. The film doesn’t offer comfort. That’s exactly what makes it powerful.

The theme of systemic corruption runs throughout. Kate’s journey is about learning that the institutions she trusted don’t operate the way she believed. That discovery is heartbreaking and deeply relevant to the real world.

Symbolism and Visual Style

The desert landscape itself is a symbol vast, lawless and indifferent to human suffering. Characters are often shown as small figures against huge skies, emphasizing their lack of control.

The color palette uses warm, dusty tones that feel suffocating. Villeneuve and Deakins use framing techniques that make characters look trapped even in wide open spaces.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Sicario (2015)

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Weaknesses:

Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018) Darker, Bigger and More Brutal

Quick Facts at a Glance

Plot Summary What Is Day of the Soldado About?

The sequel picks up several years after the first film. The U.S. government now classifies Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations. Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) is brought back to start a war between the cartels by kidnapping the daughter of a top cartel boss.

Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro) is tasked with the kidnapping. The girl in question is Isabel Reyes (played by Isabela Merced), a teenager who turns out to be far more complex than anyone expected. When the operation goes wrong, Alejandro finds himself protecting Isabel rather than using her as a pawn.

The sequel removes Emily Blunt’s character entirely and that changes the tone dramatically. There’s no moral compass this time. We’re dropped into a world of pure grey area everyone is doing bad things and the only question is how bad.

A parallel storyline follows a Mexican American teenager named Miguel (Elijah Rodriguez) who is drawn into cartel recruitment. This storyline serves as a window into how young men get pulled into a life of violence.

Cast and Performances

Benicio Del Toro as Alejandro Del Toro carries this film on his back. Without Emily Blunt to anchor the audience emotionally, Del Toro’s transformation from cold assassin to reluctant protector becomes the heart of the story. It’s subtle, nuanced work.

Josh Brolin as Matt Graver Brolin is excellent again, playing a man who can order terrible things without blinking. His cold professionalism is both impressive and chilling.

Isabela Merced as Isabel Reyes Merced is the surprise of the film. She plays the cartel daughter with a mix of toughness and vulnerability that feels completely real. Her chemistry with Del Toro gives the sequel its emotional core.

Jeffrey Donovan returns in a smaller but effective role. Shea Whigham, Manuel Garcia Rulfo and Matthew Modine also add strong supporting performances.

Direction Stefano Sollima Steps In

Replacing Denis Villeneuve was always going to be a challenge and Italian director Stefano Sollima (known for Suburra) does a solid job. But the difference is noticeable.

Sollima’s direction is more straightforward and action focused. He doesn’t have Villeneuve’s gift for slow burn tension but he handles the action sequences with real confidence. The border crossing sequence and the military ambush are tense, kinetic and visually impressive.

The film feels slightly more conventional than the first less cerebral, more explosive. That’s not necessarily a failure but it is a noticeable shift.

Cinematography

The sequel uses cinematographer Dariusz Wolski, who does impressive work. But without Roger Deakins, the visual poetry of the first film is somewhat diminished. The images are clean and professional but lack that haunting quality that made Sicario (2015) look like a painting.

Soundtrack

Composer Hildur Guðnadóttir (who would later win an Oscar for Joker) delivers a worthy successor to Jóhannsson’s score. The music is darker and more chaotic, matching the sequel’s more turbulent tone.

Themes and Messages

Day of the Soldado explores how geopolitics and government decisions create cycles of violence that affect innocent people. The film asks: when governments weaponize humans, who pays the price?

The theme of children in the crossfire is central both Isabel (caught in her father’s world) and Miguel (seduced into cartel life) represent a generation shaped by forces beyond their control.

There’s also a strong message about national identity and borders the film portrays the border as a place where laws disappear and survival is the only rule.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Day of the Soldado

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Weaknesses:

Side by Side Comparison: Sicario vs. Day of the Soldado

Box Office and Financial Performance

Sicario (2015) was made on a modest $30 million budget and earned nearly $85 million worldwide. For a dark, R rated crime thriller with no big name superhero or franchise attachment, that’s a genuine success. Critics loved it and audiences responded strongly.

Day of the Soldado had a slightly larger budget of approximately $35 million and earned around $75 million worldwide. It performed reasonably well but didn’t match the critical acclaim of its predecessor. The drop in critical ratings likely affected its cultural footprint.

Both films are considered profitable ventures for Lionsgate and the production companies involved.

Actor Salaries (Estimated)

Exact figures are not publicly confirmed but industry sources have suggested:

Taylor Sheridan The Brain Behind Both Films

Writer Taylor Sheridan is one of Hollywood’s most respected voices in modern crime drama. Before Sicario, he was best known as an actor. His transition to screenwriting produced a trilogy of films Hell or High Water, Wind River and the Sicario franchise that are considered among the finest crime scripts of the 2010s.

Sheridan has a gift for writing characters who exist in moral grey zones. He doesn’t write heroes and villains. He writes people shaped by systems, history and necessity. His dialogue is sharp and minimal characters say a lot by saying very little.

He also created the hugely successful TV series Yellowstone, cementing his place as one of the most important storytellers in American genre fiction today.

Denis Villeneuve A Director’s Legacy

Denis Villeneuve brought his signature slow burn, intellectually rigorous style to Sicario, elevating it from a simple crime thriller into something closer to art cinema. His previous films like Incendies and Prisoners already showed his ability to handle dark material with grace and discipline.

After Sicario, he directed Arrival (2016) and Blade Runner 2049 (2017) before taking on the massive Dune franchise. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest directors of his generation.

His absence in the sequel is one of the main reasons Day of the Soldado feels slightly lesser not bad but not the same.

Production Design and Technical Excellence

Both films were shot across real desert locations in New Mexico, Texas and northern Mexico. The production design grounds the stories in a very specific, very real geography. Albuquerque Studios provided key infrastructure for both productions.

Special effects studios including Oblique FX, FLY Studio and Cinesite contributed to sequences that feel grounded rather than over produced. The decision to keep effects practical wherever possible gives both films a documentary like authenticity.

Awards Recognition

Sicario (2015) received three Academy Award nominations:

• Best Cinematography (Roger Deakins)
• Best Original Score (Jóhann Jóhannsson)
• Best Sound Editing

It also received nominations from BAFTA, the Critics’ Choice Awards, the Satellite Awards, the American Society of Cinematographers and dozens of critics’ organizations worldwide.

Day of the Soldado received far fewer major awards nominations, though Isabela Merced received praise from several critics’ circles for her performance.

Audience Reaction and Viewer Demographics

Sicario (2015) attracted a wide demographic film enthusiasts, thriller fans and mainstream audiences all responded positively. The film sparked conversations about U.S. drug policy, border security and government ethics that extended well beyond entertainment circles.

Day of the Soldado performed better with general action audiences, while more serious film critics were less enthusiastic. Core fans of the first film were somewhat divided those who loved the action liked the sequel more; those who valued the cerebral tone of the original felt it was missing something.

Both films are regularly recommended on best thriller lists and continue to be discovered by new viewers on streaming platforms.

Where to Watch Sicario and Sicario 2

Both films have been available on Netflix in various regions and are regularly featured on major streaming and rental platforms. The films are also available for digital purchase and physical home media.

Trivia and Behind the Scenes Facts

Cultural Significance

The Sicario franchise arrived at a moment when the United States was deeply engaged in debates about immigration, border security and the so called War on Drugs. The films don’t take a political side they simply show the human cost of these systems on all sides of the border.

That balance is rare and valuable. The films were praised by commentators from across the political spectrum, which speaks to their ability to present difficult truths without propaganda.

Both films also helped bring Latino talent to the forefront of major Hollywood productions Benicio Del Toro, Isabela Merced, Manuel Garcia Rulfo and others received significantly more attention after these films.

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Final Verdict My Personal Takeaway

Having watched both films multiple times, my honest opinion is this:

Sicario (2015) is a masterpiece. Full stop. It’s the kind of film that stays with you for days. Denis Villeneuve, Roger Deakins, Taylor Sheridan and a perfect cast created something that feels like more than a movie. It’s an experience.

Sicario: Day of the Soldado is a genuinely good film that suffers mainly from comparison to its predecessor. On its own terms, it’s a tense, intelligent and beautifully acted thriller. The relationship between Alejandro and Isabel gives it surprising heart. It just doesn’t hit the same heights.

Together, they form one of the most compelling and morally serious crime franchises Hollywood has produced in recent memory. If you haven’t watched them yet start with Sicario tonight. You won’t regret it.

FAQ Your Most Common Questions Answered

Disclaimer:

This article is an independent editorial review intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. All box office figures, budgets and salary estimates are approximate and sourced from publicly available information they are not verified financial data. Film titles, character names and related trademarks are the property of their respective owners. This site holds no affiliation with any production company, studio or streaming platform mentioned herein.