Born in 2015, "Border Killer" is a typical Taylor Sheridan movie: the narrative experience of Dennis Villeneuve's cold and quiet, and the magnificent and dynamic image style of Roger Diggins' land Next, this "New West" film about the drug war on the US-Mexico border shows a dazzling and ecstatic amazing quality.
"Border Killer" has a global box office revenue of only 85 million US dollars, but due to the subject matter, it is natural that this (like other Taylor Sheridan movies) lacks commercial elements and is a small movie worth digging. Gold mine. Although the film studio has lost the four main creators of the previous work-director Dennis Villeneuve, heroine Emily Blunt, photographer Roger Dickens, and the late composer John Johnson ——But surprisingly, "Frontier Killer 2" has not changed the style of other sequel movies that have lost the main creative, but retains a lot of familiar elements from strong drama conflicts to aggressive action dramas. At this point, the biggest hero is naturally the screenwriter Tyler Sheridan, who created a new and compelling narrative clue for this outreach film that excavated the background of the characters, and made the film a more abundant male hormone. The pure men movie: Josh Brolin and Benicio del Toro's rough and strong male hormones contain the mellow power that almost tears the screen. This is commendable in the PC era that advocates "diversification".
But at the same time, the film has paid a great price in order to take such a solid step in commercialization. In the best case, "Border Killer 2" has the original charm of Michael Mann’s early movies. The masculine men acted in spirit, blurring the boundary between good and evil; and at the worst, the movie is like At the end of the 1990s and the beginning of this century, even those who, like "Escape from the Shell 2", were directly released on DVDs and inferior sequels in overseas markets, dancing in the shadow of the previous work. Although it’s a bit unfair to compare the team of the sequel with the talented predecessor, when the director Stefano Solima imitates the lens of the previous work, he constantly reminds us, like Villeneuve and Roger · The importance of a filmmaker with true craftsmanship like Dickens.
In his short and dazzling career as a screenwriter, Taylor Sheridan had a special fascination with the dramatic tension between people and the environment that existed in Old Western movies. In "Going Through Water and Fire", "Hunting the Wind River Valley", "Border Killer", and the new drama "Yellowstone", from the old border to the new border, he successfully transformed the drama of the old westerns and applied them to the "New American West". In this situation, the vitality of both is also activated at the same time in this process. In "Frontier Killer 2", the charm of this collision is once again shown. For example, the road ambush in Mexico is very similar in design to the road assault in the previous work, but it brings another impact in the atmosphere. The two leading actors also once again contributed their strong performance in this film. As the absolute male star of this summer, Josh Brolin has once again played a strong military leader image after "Avengers 3" and "Deadpool 2". Although for him, such a role can be regarded as easy to come by with closed eyes, but he still adds an interesting rebellious character to his role, even if he is not familiar with Josh Brolin, he can easily match him Josh Brolin's other roles are distinguished. However, "Border Killer 2", like the previous one, is a movie belonging to Benicio del Toro. During his playing time, there is almost no way you can take your gaze away from him.
The two best middle-aged Hollywood male stars of today are trying their best to start from the subtleties to increase the depth of the movie. But unfortunately and strangely, this movie does not satisfy the audience who loves the previous work.
One possible reason is the use of violent content in movies. No matter what the purpose is-in line with the theme or artistic pursuit-this kind of action movies will always use a lot of violent scenes. However, "Border Killer 2" and "Border Killer" lack the subjective motivation behind it. It seems that they just want such violent scenes in the movie, not for narrative needs or other reasons. The violent content in "Border Killer 2" just makes people feel numb and emotionally lost, making it difficult to care about what will happen next. For such a film with artistic potential, the audience needs to realize how the bloodshed in the two-hour period will affect the characters, what kind of message they want to convey, and what the artistic motivation is. The theme of international conflict once flashed across the US-Mexico border, but it was not well developed. Considering that Taylor Sheridan wants to turn this series into a trilogy, the transitional "Border Killer 2" appears to be very shallow and lacking in power. Although it can be justified, it is not the same as the previous work, which can arouse people's thinking. See more interest in the characters and stories of this world.
Although the director of the film, Stefano Solima, has a relatively low international reputation, he has a very clear understanding of large-scale crime-themed film and television works. In "Frontier Killer 2", he confidently successfully expressed the sense of suspense and realism needed in this type of film, while also blurring the ambiguous sense of good, evil and contradiction in the story and the characters. The performances of Josh Brolin and Benicio del Toro are more enthusiastic than the previous movie, have more tasks to undertake, and have the same chemistry as a model.
If Taylor Sheridan can pay more attention to the script-considering that the self-written and self-directed American drama "Yellowstone" has just ushered in its premiere-then "Border Killer 2" may find a better balance between violence and narrative , There will definitely be more potential in the characters and stories. Although not satisfactory, "Frontier Killer 2" is still one of the mediocre sequels of this summer, with better qualifications and higher viewing ability.
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