Sicario: Day of the Soldado wasn’t quite the hit sequel Taylor Sheridan was hoping for. But amid the script and pacing problems, and the misunderstanding of what made Denis Villeneuve’s original so beloved, Sicario 2 got at least one thing right: its action was very accurate and realistic. The accuracy of action in movies has become an increasingly noticeable aspect as the rise of expert reaction videos on YouTube has clued audiences in to what should and shouldn’t happen on the big screen. Luckily for Sicario 2, a former Navy SEAL was immensely impressed with the movie. DJ Shipley, a retired Navy SEAL, sat down with Insider to rate close-quarter battle scenes from famous movies and shows. While Shipley was harsh about many of the other films, which included John Wick: Chapter 4 and The Raid, Sicario 2 got his SEAL of approval. “I thought they did a very good job,” Shipley said after being shown the nighttime raid scene from the film. “I’d give it a nine [out of 10.]” DJ Shipley broke down several key aspects from the scene, including how the soldiers navigated the building with night vision. He said:
“Nods and a laser are definitely the most crucial elements for nighttime CQB. You have to have night vision to see at night. You have to have a laser to have an aiming device and to provide the illumination that you don’t have inside of your reality. So, a lot of things you can get away with in nighttime CQB, being slow or being super-super quiet, sometimes in broad daylight, it’s the reverse. Everything is about how much noise you can mitigate.”

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Before they began the raid, DJ Shipley also examined how the soldiers entered the confined building. “All these guys are flowing in behind, but you’re not just all bum-rushing the entire thing because it’s slow and methodical,” he said, praising the depiction of CQB in the movie. “So the first four guys, whatever, make entry, start doing it, and everybody else is kind of in reserve, and they’re slowly but surely creeping up. So, there’s not a big delay or a gap.”
‘Sicario: Day of the Soldado’ Nails a Minute Aspect of CQB

As well as the general performance of the soldiers entering the building, DJ Shipley embraced the spirit of internet fans and nitpicked the film down to the smallest details. But his examination of Sicario 2’s depiction of CQB was almost flawless, as the movie even nailed some of the tiny details. As the soldiers entered the building, some had their rifles in an upward-ready position, and some had their rifles pointing down. While this might not look like a uniform approach, Shipley explained that both are actually correct. “You got half the guys at high ready, some of the guys at low ready,” Shipley explained. “It’s really all in the unit discretion.” At the end of the day, how accurate a single action scene is shouldn’t ruin the viewing experience; that’s for the rest of the movie to do. Unlike the original Sicario, which is considered to be one of Denis Villeneuve’s best movies, Sicario 2 (directed by Stefano Sollima) was less well received by audiences and critics. The film holds a 62% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, compared to the 92% rating achieved by the original. Source: Insider