An underrated, hard-hitting action thriller movie is on TV tonight

We're still waiting on the follow-up to the film.

Sicario is the word for 'hitman' in Spanish, while Soldado is the word for 'soldier'. The 2018 follow-up is set a few years after the original and begins with a bombing by ISIS on American soil that kills 15 people.

In response, CIA officer Matt Graver (Josh Brolin, No Country for Old Men) is given the green light by the US Secretary of Defence (Matthew Modine, Full Metal Jacket) to "shake the tree" and create chaos for the Mexican cartels, who are suspected of having smuggled the terrorists into the United States.

Reuniting with anti-cartel hitman Alejandro Gillick (Benicio del Toro, One Battle After Another), the pair decide that the best way to do this is by instigating a war between the rival cartels.

As part of the plan, they kidnap Isabel (Isabela Merced, Superman), the daughter of a major drug kingpin, framing another cartel for the crime in a false flag operation.

The sequel saw Italian filmmaker Stefano Sollima (Gomorrah, ZeroZeroZero) replace Denis Villeneuve in the director's chair.

It received mixed to positive reviews, with many critics complaining about the absence of Emily Blunt's protagonist from the original in the follow-up.

That said, we here at JOE are big fans of Soldado and wrote the following in a recent retrospective to mark its fifth anniversary:

"[Soldado delves] deeper into the shadowy world [screenwriter Taylor] Sheridan only scratched the surface of in Sicario, this time from the perspective of Alejandro and Matt - deeply flawed but tough-as-nails men who know it all so well.

"While the original mostly stayed set around the US-Mexico border, Soldado is much more globe-trotting. In its opening stretch, it also travels to Africa and South America in a bid to convey to viewers the interconnectivity of the crime world. The end result is fascinating with Sheridan and Sollima breathlessly highlighting how an oil pirate in Somalia, a Mexican criminal gang and an ISIS suicide bomber can be all linked together.

"On top of this, they also show through the subplot focusing on the teenager Miguel (Elijah Rodriguez) how easy it can be for a relatively normal young boy to be corrupted just through bad influences and the promises of wealth."

In the retrospective, we also expressed our hope that the long-awaited third Sicario flick, apparently titled Sicario: Capos, will eventually come to fruition.

Sicario 2: Soldado is airing on TV tonight/tomorrow morning at 12.55am on Film4. It will also be available to stream on Channel 4's website from Friday, 14 November.

For JOE's list of the other movies on TV tonight, see here.

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The 4K projector has the likes of YouTube, Netflix and Prime Video built in, so you can access thousands of films and shows without an additional TV stick, and you can also connect it to Bluetooth on your phone and laptop.

It’s currently priced at €53.52 in a limited-time deal on the Amazon website.

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