'Sicario' sequel can't match original thriller but carves out its own moments

“Sicario: Day of the Soldado” - ★ ★ ★

In Stefano Sollima's violence-saturated sequel “Sicario: Day of the Soldado,” Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro expand their gritty, anti-drug cartel warriors from Denis Villeneuve's brilliantly executed 2015 original thriller.

Yet, they still can't touch Emily Blunt's fierce, empathetic FBI agent as a multilayered, charismatic leading character.

Nor can the rest of “Day of the Soldado” match Villeneuve's crackling suspense tale about an all-out war by secret U.S. operatives (and a vengeful Mexican attorney) to stop the flow of drugs from ruthless cartel leaders south of the border.

Nonetheless, Sollima's shotgun-blast continuation of Villeneuve's sniper-rifle narrative packs its own punchy, well-crafted moments, accompanied by Hildur Guonadóttir's over-employed horror score.

The nocturnal opening scene in “Soldado” lets us know drug trafficking has been replaced by a more timely topic as we witness the illegal border crossing of many Mexicans.

One of the illegals, facing capture, detonates a suicide bomb, foreshadowing a horrific scene during which suicide bombers blow up a grocery store in America's heartland, Kansas City.

They all apparently came through Mexico.

Outraged Secretary of Defense James Riley (Matthew Modine) wastes no time in recruiting Matt Graver (Brolin) to destabilize the cartels by instigating a war between them.

“I'm gonna have to get dirty,” Graver utters gravely.

“Dirty,” Riley replies, “is exactly why you're here!”

When he's not sounding like a film noir thug (with pugilistic dialogue supplied once again by Taylor Sheridan), Graver resorts to metaphors: “Kidnap the prince, and the king will start the war!”

Here, the prince turns out to be a princess, Isabela Reyes, the entitled, spoiled brat tween-aged daughter (Isabela Moner) of cartel lord Carlos Reyes, the man who killed the family of Mexican attorney Alejandro (Del Toro).

Much of the appeal in “Soldado” stems from pungent, ever-present paranoia. Mexican authorities have ties to Reyes and many citizens fear him, making every stranger a potential enemy to Alejandro and Graver.

“Soldado,” like its 2015 predecessor, remains a distinctly melancholy if not downright downer depiction of the world. Loss, sadness, rage and revenge drive this story rife with tragedy, corruption and fear.

This is especially true of Mexican-American middle-school student Miguel Hernandez (Elijah Rodriguez), who becomes seduced by the money from helping a trafficker move Mexicans across the border.

We know the cartels excel at killing empathy and humanity in their foot soldiers, and that leads to a dark, open-ended finale.

The action-driven “Soldado” doesn't exactly allow actors to demonstrate their range or depth.

Yet, as Reyes' daughter, Moner's expressive, multifaceted performance injects this thriller with intense sincerity, creating a far more complex character than when she played another “Izabella” in Michael Bay's far-less demanding “Transformers: The Last Knight.”

<b>Starring:</b> Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro, Isabela Moner, Matthew Modine, Elijah Rodriguez

<b>Directed by:</b> Stefano Sollima

<b>Other:</b> A Columbia Pictures release. Rated R for language, violence. 122 minutes