Sicario: Day of the Soldado

SICARIO is an excellent film; however, in 2015 I did not blog about it. Now I am grateful for the opportunity to write about the action thriller, SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO. Benicio del Toro returns as Alejandro Gillick, Josh Brolin returns as Matt Graver, and Jeffrey Donovan returns as Steve Forsing. Emily Blunt is not in this film, so her character, Kate Macer from SICARIO, is not part of the story. Instead Catherine Keener plays Cynthia Foards and fills the slot of a strong female presence.

The cast makes SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO a great movie. And, of course, Taylor Sheridan's screenplay is its strength. After watching both SICARIO movies and WIND RIVER, I am beginning to believe Sheridan is the contemporary Master of Suspense, which is a title given to the late filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock. This point is debatable. At any rate, I will infer that Hitchcock would have enjoyed Sheridan's screenplays.

SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO is directed by Stefano Sollima. His movie is relevant because of real life current events about the U.S.-Mexico border. Watching what people go through to immigrate to America is intense. This is the feeling Sollima wants viewers to hold throughout the film and that is accomplished.

SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO is currently playing in theatres. The official Web site is https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/sicario2soldado/.

Wind River

WIND RIVER is a thriller movie written and directed by Taylor Sheridan. The entire film is highly suspenseful and provides an uneasy feeling. The circumstances make this possible: the location is a small town in what seems like the middle of no where, snow is on the ground, it is cold, wild animals are present, and the local wildlife officer Cory Lambert (played by Jeremy Renner) finds a woman's dead body.

Since the body is found on a Native American reservation, the sole tribal officer Ben (played by Graham Greene) is put in charge and swiftly contacts the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). Jane Banner (played by Elizabeth Olsen) arrives. Because murder is not the cause of death, the FBI does not send Banner any back up, and it is up to her to solve the mystery of why the woman had run for so many miles in the snow.

WIND RIVER is currently playing in theatres.