Stefano Sollima directs Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin and Isabela Moner in this action thriller sequel that sees the ethics free drug cartel breakers exploit a kingpin’s child and the border’s human trafficking business to disrupt the drug trade.

Soldado lacks the relentless, being dragged down into quicksand, feeling of Denis Villeneuve’s original entry. It lacks the heart that Emily Blunt’s rookie but capable protagonist brought as our guide into this murky world of covert ops and maximum deniability. You could say the tough kid, Isabela Moner, takes over this function for us. But for the last hour she is rendered mute by both duct tape and PTSD. There are also three or four sequences that are as silly as they are suspenseful. Still, it is a thumping and violent action film with a mature plot in the main. And Del Toro is still an under utilised, truly masculine lead… thirty years into his career. These both are rarities in the multiplexes recently, and should be supported.

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