Sicario: Day of the Soldado
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: June 29, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
61
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 50 Critic Reviews
Positive:
28
Mixed:
19
Negative:
3
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
The New YorkerAnthony LaneJul 2, 2018
Although Sollima’s film is unbothered, for the most part, by the plight of refugees, it gets one thing dismayingly right: our most significant witness, on the fault line where Mexico and America grate against each other, is a child. Read full review
60
CineVueMaximilian Von ThunJun 28, 2018
Despite all this, Sicario 2 remains highly watchable thanks to what it does preserve from the original: its mood of constant dread and impending doom. Read full review
60
Time OutCath ClarkeJun 28, 2018
Del Toro is the Ernest Hemingway of screen badasses: the less he says the better he is – he does his most convincing work while looking like he’s about to nod off. ‘Sicario 2’ sets up a future instalment centred on him: that sequel will be a must. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangJun 26, 2018
The trouble with this muscular, fitfully absorbing, confusingly titled action movie — a bigger, brasher and less memorable picture than its predecessor in every respect — is that its cynicism too often feels like a put-on. Read full review
60
The New York TimesA.O. ScottJun 26, 2018
Dumber, less inventive and not as pretentious as “Sicario” (released in 2015, directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Mr. Sheridan), it both advances and retreats, expanding on the original and narrowing its scope. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsStephen Whitty Jun 25, 2018
Director Stefano Sollima, who cut his teeth on Italian TV mob dramas, is good at building suspense. He fills the screen with striking images, too -- night-vision raids, heat-signature tracking, eye-in-the-sky surveillance. Read full review
58
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezJun 29, 2018
It’s an inferior, often frustrating film, it’s hard to root for, and its consideration of its people of color is dubious, even as it features them as protagonists. But nonetheless, there’s some value, especially in is visceral qualities and the chilling nihilism of its violence. Read full review
58
The Film StageConor O'DonnellJun 29, 2018
For all his competent and confident staging, perhaps a steadier hand than Sollima’s could have steered the script to a place where some emotional payoff feels rightly earned, or coalesced Sheridan’s takes on the immigration crisis into a more cohesive, singular point. Read full review
50
New York PostSara StewartJun 29, 2018
Without a humanizing element like Blunt’s character, this whole grim affair is just a race to the bottom in which everyone loses. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoJun 29, 2018
Some will be turned off by the exploitative violence and some by the shallow storytelling, but what struck me most about “Day of the Soldado” was the predictability of it all. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreJun 28, 2018
When the thriller’s third act collapses in on itself , breaking its own unsentimental rules and reminding us that this is the studio that reboots “Spider-Man” every three years, whether we ask for it or not, “like” becomes a stretch. Read full review
50
TimeStephanie ZacharekJun 28, 2018
If you’re looking for a movie that speaks to the moment, a mindless action-thriller probably isn’t it. Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim GriersonJun 20, 2018
No matter how commanding Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin might be, Soldado is a less inspired or thoughtful redo of its predecessor, jettisoning nuance for amped-up nihilism. Read full review
50
IndieWireDavid EhrlichJun 20, 2018
Alas, all the darkness in the world doesn’t make “Day of Soldado” feel real, and errant mentions of a weak-stomached POTUS violently return us to the atrocities happening beyond the frame. Read full review
45
Vanity FairK. Austin CollinsJun 29, 2018
The results are, understandably, thrilling at times, because violence is thrilling—vengeance even more so. But what it adds up to is a chaotic, misbegotten mess. Read full review
45
Film Journal InternationalChris BarsantiJun 27, 2018
There is only so much a director can do to bring surprise to certain stock elements—it would be refreshing to just once see a convoy survive a movie without being ambushed—but Sollima knits together big, sweeping aerial shots and tight-in, juddering angles that work each nerve not already done to pieces by all the automatic weapons fire and exploding vehicles. Read full review
45
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiJun 20, 2018
All the human strife, all the political squabbling, comes across like an excuse to be “badass” but high-minded about it. The film’s shootouts are “cool” but lack anything resembling a meaningful perspective, so when the characters talk about the political rationales for their violence, it rings hollow. And when the bullets fly, nothing else seems like it ever mattered. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyJun 25, 2018
The occasionally hackneyed dialogue (one would hardly believe Sheridan also wrote the terrific Hell Or High Water) and anonymously copied direction comes across as a crude approximation of the original Sicario’s sinister narrative, with a similarly stripped-down mise-en-scène, but no sense of purpose. Read full review
40
ScreenCrushMatt SingerJun 21, 2018
A superficial sequel that lacks the first movie’s unique quirks and soul. Read full review
More From This Movie

61 Critic Reviews

7.0 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 77 Project Hail Mary
2 75 Send Help
3 73 Hoppers
4 72 The Sheep Detectives
5 68 Crime 101
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL