Soldado will be even bigger and meaner than Sicario, according to star Josh Brolin. Sicario seemingly emerged out of nowhere in 2015 and drew raves reviews for its intense story, stomach knotting tension, and the performances of the lead actors. The story followed an FBI agent – played by Emily Blunt – who is recruited by a government agency for an operation in Mexico, and she quickly finds herself in over her head.
The film was a dark thriller that didn’t naturally lend itself to a sequel, but a follow-up called Soldado was quickly greenlit off of the film’s surprise success. While Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro will be returning as the mysterious government agents from the first film, Blunt’s character won’t be appearing.
Related: Why Emily Blunt Won't Be in Soldado
Little is known about the actual plot of Soldado at this stage - but during an interview with Collider, Brolin offered his assurances that the movie will turn out great:
“You know what? That movie, honestly, I’ll just tell you really quick, when I first saw it I was like, ‘Okay, it’s a good movie and I think we need to trim some things. We need to do this, and this, and that to it.’ Everybody else had their notes and then when they saw the final cut it’s a really good movie. I’m really excited about it. I was actually surprised at how good it turned out.”
When pressed for more details about how Soldado compares to its predecessor, Brolin says:
“I think it’s just more severe, man. All the way around. I think the characters are more severe. I think the movie is more severe. I think it’s just much bigger. It’s just a bigger scope film. Like I said, when I saw it it was like Sicario felt like a small movie to me, even though it was a very intimate movie. I’ve always said I don’t understand why bigger movies can’t be just as intimate, if not more intimate. Why do they have to be less emotional? I think Soldado‘s a perfect example of that. I think it’s extremely emotional. I think it’s extremely tense and it deals with similar subject matters.”
Sicario was directed by Denis Villeneuve, but the filmmaker had to hand over the reins of the sequel to Stefano Sollima when he became attached to Blade Runner 2049. Taylor Sheridan returned to write the script, however – which is something Brolin feels was a vital ingredient to Soldado working:
I kind of felt the same way [with Soldado], and maybe that all stems from Taylor Sheridan’s writing and the fact that you can only f*** up his scripts to a certain extent, but it’s still going to be a good movie because maybe it does all start with the script.
There has yet to be a trailer or any image released for the film, but on the basis of Brolin’s words, Soldado may just live up to the quality of its predecessor. If all goes well, there could even be a third movie too.
NEXT: Soldado Makes Sicario 'Look Like a Comedy'
Source: Collider
