Review: Sicario: Day of the Soldado - Inferior sequel that gets badly let down by weak final act

As one of my favourite films of 2015, Sicario was a feature that simply had it all, a dark, yet tense plot, explosive action scenes, a formidable cast and most importantly a brilliant director at the helm in Denis Villeuneve. With that in mind, Sicario: Day of the Soldado despite the loss of the immensely talented Emily Blunt and previous director on board, was a film that had me intrigued well before it's release date and one that I had high hopes for.
In Sicario: Day of the Soldado, the series begins a new chapter. In the Mexican drug war, there are no rules--and as the cartels have begun trafficking terrorists across the US border, federal agent Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) calls again on the mysterious Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro), whose family was murdered by a cartel kingpin, to escalate the war in questionable ways. Alejandro kidnaps the kingpin's daughter to inflame the conflict--but when the girl is seen as collateral damage, her fate will come between the two men as they question everything they are fighting for.
With the original Sicario a hard act to follow, this Stefano Sollima directed sequel did have the advantage of the same writer in Taylor Sheridan and a returning cast in the shape of Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro behind it, so the raw materials for a solid production are there and for almost ninety minutes of this feature this film, whilst not hitting the heights of it's predecessor did in fact have a lot of admirable qualities.
The dark tone and gripping tension as well as high octane action scenes are all present and with such a strong cast again delivering (including a noticeable debut from newcomer Isabel Moner), Sicario: Day of the Soldado seemed to resemble a solid if unspectacular sequel.
A final act that saw this feature sink to faricial levels at an alarmingly rapid rate however, unravels all that was good about the first section of the film and left this viewer leaving Tralee Omniplex extremely frustrated and at the hijacking of a decent film for the purpose of prolonging a series that didn't need expanding.
Overall, Sicario: Day of the Soldado seems like the dreaded missed opportunity of a film that despite a lot of decent qualities gets badly left down by a daft final act and as a result dampens expectations for any repeat attempts from it's undoubtedly talented team.
✸✸✸