Sicario was one of the most memorable movies of 2015, a tense, atmospheric thriller about the war against Mexican drug cartels and the lengths the U.S. government would go to in its quest to stop them. While Sicario didn’t seem to lend itself to a sequel, Lionsgate announced in June 2016 that it was slating Sicario 2: Soldado for 2018. On Tuesday, the trailer dropped for Soldado, and it certainly looks like a departure from its predecessor.
The movie will be without Oscar-nominated director Denis Villeneuve, renowned cinematographer Roger Deakins, and star Emily Blunt—but Taylor Sheridan (Hell or High Water, Wind River) returned to write the script, and Benicio Del Toro is back as Alejandro Gillick, the titular, terrifying hitman.
Where Sicario was focused on creating a very distinct, unsettling atmosphere, Soldado looks like a perpetual storm of chaos and gunfire, akin to the craziest moments of Netflix’s Narcos. Returning CIA agent Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) has been given carte blanche for handling the escalating drug wars that are affecting the U.S.-Mexico border. In other words, if you were hoping for a Sicario sequel that would fully unleash Benicio Del Toro, I have good news.
Soldado arrives in theaters June 29.
