Directed by Stefano Sollima
Written by Taylor Sheridan
Cast: Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin, Isabela Moner, Jeffrey Donovan, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Catherine Keener, Matthew Modine, Shea Whigham, Elijah Rodriguez, Howard Ferguson Jr., David Castaneda, Jacqueline Torres, Raoul Max Trujillo, Bruno Bichir, Jake Picking
Soundtrack: Hildur Guðnadóttir
I suppose things were going to have to slow down eventually for Taylor Sheridan.
I mean, when your first three films as a screenwriter are Sicario, Hell or High Water, and Wind River, it’s only natural that the quality will start to wane at some point (although, full disclosure, Yellowstone might be great, but I don’t watch much television anymore, so I can’t confirm or deny this).
In Sheridan’s defense though, I think his screenplay could have been better served by more capable hands, as there’s quite a drop-off from Denis Villeneuve in the director’s chair to Stefano Sollima (whose work to this point has been out of sight of American audiences).
This is not to say that Soldado is bad, I didn’t feel ripped off or anything like that, and there were plenty of elements that I did appreciate, but it’s a noticeable step back in my eyes. For one thing, the marketing gave so much away that I didn’t really have anything left to discover, and there wasn’t enough meat on the bone to make up for this (which a great, even very good movie can accomplish; a la The Usual Suspects).
Beyond that, outside of Emily Blunt’s character not coming back (which I actually don’t have a problem with; in fact, it makes sense to me), Soldado just has a certain je ne sais pas that I found lacking, especially in comparison to its predecessor. Hard to say what would have helped but a quicker pace wouldn’t have hurt (as much as I appreciate Mat Newman’s laconic editing for Nicolas Winding Refn’s films, I’m not sure it was the right play here). Presumably they were trying to build the tension, but I wasn’t feeling it; certainly nothing remotely close to the border crossing scenes in the first one.
But hey, it’s got fairly well executed action, and Del Toro and Brolin are still great, so I can’t complain too much.
Still though, it’s hard for me to give this one a big push, but I won’t talk you out of it either.
Rating: ★★★☆☆