Black Ops on the Border: "Sicario: Day of the Soldado'

"Sicario: Day of the Soldado" (Out now on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD) takes two of the lead characters from 2015's surprise hit "Sicario" and puts them in a very different story about the costs on human trafficking.

"Sicario" screenwriter Taylor Sheridan returns for "Soldado." His career has gone into hyperdrive since the first movie. He got an Oscar nomination for his "Hell of High Water" screenplay and wrote and directed the Native American reservation thriller "Wind River." Plus he created and directed all nine episodes of the Kevin Costner series "Yellowstone" for the Paramount network.

Italian director Stefano Sollima (behind the amazing Italian TV Maifa drama "Gomorrah," which is on Netflix) takes over for Denis Villeneuve (nominated for Best Director for 2016's "Arrival" and directed the underrated "Blade Runner 2049"). Emily Blunt's character is absent here, so the focus is on Josh Brolin's Matt Graver and Benicio del Toro's Alejandro Gillick. Brolin may be having a banner year as Thanos in "Avengers: Infinity War" and Cable in "Deadpool 2," but this is the best movie he's appeared in this year. Alejandro is the best role that del Toro's had in years and he plays it like he knows it.

The U.S. government believes that Islamist terrorists are being smuggled into the country via Mexico and asks Graver to disrupt the Mexican cartels who are running the human trafficking trade. Matt and Alejandro engineer a war between the cartels and kidnap the daughter of a cartel chief.  

Once again, the idea that extra-legal means are justified in the fight against extreme evil takes a beating in this story. Things go wrong and get very weird. The American government cuts off support for the guys it engaged to do the dirty work and the movie ends with a great setup for a third Sicario movie.