The border just got darker, and it’s even more vicious without Villeneuve’s icy stare behind the camera.

Benicio Del Toro’s Alejandro is no longer a ghost; he’s a full-on demon unchained. That opening suicide-bomber sequence and the grocery-store prayer scene let you know immediately: rules are dead, morality is a luxury, and mercy is a weakness. Josh Brolin’s Matt Graver grins like a wolf while signing off on war crimes, and the moment they fake the cartel hit to spark a gang war… you realize this isn’t a sequel, it’s a descent.

The convoy ambush in the desert is still one of the most brutally realistic shootouts ever filmed: dust, screaming, no music, just the sound of your own heartbeat. Then the film pivots into something almost tender with Isabela Merced’s cartel princess and the kid Miguel; two lost souls caught in the meat grinder. The final shot of Miguel picking up the gun and Alejandro’s “You wanna be a sicario?” whisper? Pure chills.

It’s meaner, messier, and doesn’t have Emily Blunt’s moral compass to guide you home, but that’s the point. This is what happens when the monsters win and decide to keep playing.

Related Movies: