Film Preview: Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018)

Page Revisions:

(December 24, 2017) Original
(May 27, 2018) New Trailer (#2) / New Posters (#1-#6) / Title Change
(June 24, 2018) New Posters (#7-#8)

Release Date:

June 29, 2018

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “The drug war on the US-Mexico border has escalated as the cartels have begun trafficking terrorists across the US border. To fight the war, federal agent Matt Graver re-teams with the mercurial Alejandro.”

Poster Rating: B- / C / C (2) / C+ / D / C / C+

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Review: (#1) A design inspired by Hispanic culture that feels overly stylized and roughly detailed without a sense of purpose or exciting. (#2) A dull background with slight embellishments to the space surrounding the central image, which is finely colored, but otherwise feels cheap. (#3-#4) Using the prior design as a road map, these character posters don’t improve on the prior design at all. (#5) Similar to the second design, but with a slightly duller color scheme and less exciting and more jumbled images included. That it takes up more of the design with less of the background dragging it down is the only reason it’s slightly better than the prior. (#6) Similar to the first design, but with a lot more blank black space. It doesn’t improve anything and certainly doesn’t excite.

(#7) Guns and actors. Is there anything in this design that’s particularly exciting? It’s decently structured, but ultimately inconsequential. (#8) Unlike some of the other designs, this one at least has some symbolic references that make it feel like a singular part of the film and like a expression of theme. That waste of background space, though, feels like a missed opportunity.

Trailer Rating: C+ / C

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Review: (#1) In the annals of sequels no one needed, Sicario was a film with a natural ending and to not only continue the story, but do so without the female protagonist in favor of an all-male cast is unconscionable. Having said that, the trailer doesn’t look abysmal and drug war films where there are only black-hats might be an interesting choice.

(#2) Another trailer that feels derivative and unappealing. Positioning these characters as fighting a war against the drug cartels, but in an underhanded way doesn’t feel as appealing as the prior film, which featured a ideologically pure central character.