WFH: Sicario: Day of the Soldado

 2018, Stefano Sollima (Without Remorse) -- Amazon

One opportunity afforded by the endless Work From Home is that ritualistic allotted hour where I step away from the desk and sit on the sofa, to nourish myself. After about 20 minutes or so of putting together a lunch, I find something to watch. For most of 2020, I rewatched TV or film drivel, but I decided of late to use the time to watch some of the "meaning to get around to" list. Basically things I downloaded or added to My List but never actually watched. And as Marmy is usually asleep, the intention is to keep the volume relatively low and turn on the CC. Also, the choices have to lend themselves to being watched in spurts, as I will never get the 1.25 standard hours of movie time to sit and watch before returning to the desk.

Violent drug cartels vs America fits that and I rather liked Sicario, the sombre not-quite-action flick from Villeneuve. I was always hesitant to watch a sequel that he had nothing to do with, but having recently seen Without Remorse and at least respected its action/combat scenes, I thought I could stand to see more from Sollima.

Emily Blunt's character is not here, as Sollima focuses on Matt Graver (Josh Brolin, Oldboy), the morally ambivalent CIA agent and his blunt weapon Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro, Inherent Vice). The US has had another terrorist attack on American soil and this time, illegals crossing the border were blamed. But this is not a movie about The Wall, or Trump's policy, but more about how the cartels are making bigger money transporting bodies across the border than trafficking drugs. So, if the war on drugs is taking a back seat these days, here is a better reason to take them down. The solution is simple -- have them take each other out, and Graver is chosen to start the war. Their mission objective involves kidnapping the daughter of one of the cartel leaders, who happens to be the man who had Alejandro's family put to death. She will be a pawn to pit the cartels against each other.

This was a grim, violent movie as was to be expected. But I did find myself noting it never really went in the expected directions. The end game was never truly apparent, given the murky nature of the motivations provided to our mains. And of course, once something goes wrong, ties are cut and loyalties betrayed. Graver is clearly not happy having to leave his valuable asset behind enemy lines, but Alejandro seems to know what he is mixed up in. The oddest bit about it all, is that everyone is just presented as a working man. Sure, they may be government agents mixed up in international events, or brutal cartel soldiers who know their days are numbered, but it all just seems like ... a job to them. Just a job. I think that is more dangerous than any belief system, for its easy to forgive much when you just see that as the way of the world. Something you just do day to day, because... what else is there?