(Cert 15, 122 mins)
Expectations have been high since the popular reception for the first Sicario, so Italian director Stefano Sollima arguably had big boots to fill when he took over from Denis Villeneuve.
His efforts do not disappoint. Notably, the director sets and maintains an impressive action pace throughout the nearly twohour film.
The opening few minutes show three suicide bombers detonating their vests inside a supermarket, which sets the tone, and there is no respite from the barrage of gunfire and action that follows.
Josh Brolin returns as CIA operative Matt Graver. Alongside Benicio del Toro, who reprises his role as lawyer turned hitman Alejandro, the pair are a formidable on-screen force.
Tasked by the American government to find out if Mexican drug cartels are trafficking terrorists across the American border, they concoct a plan to ignite a cartel bloodshed by kidnapping Isabela Reyes, the young daughter of one of the big cartel bosses.
Transformers actress Isabela Moner (16) is impressive as the gutsy, headstrong character and she more than holds her own against her seasoned co-stars — so much so that in one particularly brutal shoot-out scene, you find yourself searching for her character among the chaos.
Screen veteran Catherine Keener is likeable as CIA deputy director Cynthia Foard, but the relationship between her and Graver, whatever it is, could be expanded upon.
Sollima shows off the New Mexicolandscapewithafewlavish wide shots, but it’s really his tight focus on the characters’ faces in certain moments that have the most impact.
Del Toro hasn’t lost his ability to penetrate the big screen with a silent stare that says more than a thousand words, and Sollima wisely uses this to full effect.
Elements of the storyline — notably families trying to cross illegally from Mexico into the US — are eerily close to the headlines that have been dominating world news for the past few weeks.
Script writer Taylor Sheridan doesn’t shy away from featuring hard-hitting issues such as immigration. There’s a complexity to Sheridan’s characters that keeps you guessing.
As a viewer, you are left hoping Sheridan’s next move will be to write a third film
Kerri-Ann Roper
See interview, right
Trudie Styler has been a quiet but powerful presence in the film industry for a quarter of a century. British box office hits like Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch and award-winning films such as Moon and Still Alice are all scattered among her extensive credits as a producer.
But now she is finally taking a seat in the director’s chair and making her feature debut with Freak Show, a film about a teenage boy navigating his way through a hostile and homophobic school where he is singled out for being different.
“As a story about bullying, it resonated with me on a deeply personal level,” Styler says “It’s an issue close to my heart because as a child I was bullied at school.
“My face was quite badly scarred after I was run down by a truck when I was only two years old, so I looked a bit damaged, and kids can be very cruel.
“I was picked on and called Scarface and then later, when I went to grammar school, I was diagnosed with dyslexia and that wasn’t acceptable either.
“It’s amazing what you can be picked on for in those early years of school life.”
The topic of bullying also affected the 64-year-old deeply as a mother to the four children she shares with her husband, Sting.
“My kids also suffered from being bullied,” she says. “With a dad as famous as Sting was when they were growing up, their relationships were always going to be affected, at least at first, by that awareness. And most kids don’t like having a reason to be singled out.”
“My daughter, Eliot (who has a song in the film), has only recently talked about what a hard time she had at school.
“The fact is that bullying happens all the time — in families, at school, at work and on the internet, and I think we have seen a growing acceptance and legitimisation of bullying culturally.
“During the Trump campaign, we saw public name-calling, mockery and aggression perpetrated by someone who has become the ultimate figure of authority in the US. It’s so important that we all do whatever we can to negate that terrible message to our young people.”
The film, based on a novel by James St James, features The End Of The F ****** World star Alex Lawther as Billy Bloom, who is shocked by the in- tolerance he faces when he leaves his fabulous life with his mother, played by Bette Midler, to live with his father in the bible belt of the American south.
“Alex (who is British) plays an American, but he has that wit and wisdom that feels a little 19th century, like his hero would be Oscar Wilde,” Styler says.
“When I cast him, we decided to play up his love of these extraordinary 18th and 19th century characters who were persecuted, but who transcended through not giving up.
“I think Billy sends a very clear and strong message to our teens who are in crisis with being bullied or being abused or have gender issues, that they can be the people they want to be, and we all have to step up and accommodate that.”
Casting Midler, a passionate LGBTQ activist, was, Styler says, a “no-brainer”.
“I think she’s a wonderful actor, she adds. “And I knew that the themes of the movie would mean a lot to her. She has an amazing relationship with the LGBQT world. She is so adored, and she has immense respect for that audience.”
Styler is particularly conscious that the film is arriving at a time when bullying in her own industry is making headlines.
“There is a whole movement that has been created from the abuse of power from the male sector of our entertainment industry,” she says.
“I haven’t personally encountered it — my age may have something to do with it — but I don’t mean to be facetious at all. I think the Me Too movement is certainly right to redress where the power base is.
“The stories being written are being told by men, largely.
“We do have women script writers but the majority of narrative we put out in the world is being created by men, so you normally see more male leading roles than female leading roles.
“There are 26% of producers that are women, and there are only 6% of us who are directors.
“We are not a world that is made up of largely men, it is made up of men and women, and when we go watch a movie we want to see a story that really reflects the human life that we all live in.
“It is certainly true that women have suffered within the entertainment industry, and on an economical scale have been vastly underpaid compared to guys.”
Freak Show is in cinemas now and also available on demand