Tropa de Elite was already a very good movie which told the story of captain Nascimento (Wagner Moura) and his special police squad, BOPE. It was a very violent movie which was very succesful in Brazil. Reason enough to make a sequel. Is Tropa de Elite 2 a worthy sequel like The Empire Strikes Back or is it a big disappointment like Dumb and Dumberer?
Tropa de Elite 2 is set a few years after the first movie and again focusses on the story of captain Nascimento. The movie opens wins a very violent prison riot in which one the gangs manages to escape their wing and execute rival gang members. Because the prison guard can’t handle the situation BOPE is called in. The gang member don’t want to negotiate, unless Diogo Fraga (Irandhir Santos) shows up, who is an important member of a human rights organisation.
Because of the high pressure the situation results in more violence and Nascimento and his team are suspected of extreme, unnecessary violence. Nascimento has to find a way to clear up the name of his team in the media and at the same time continue his fight against the corruption among the police.
The structure of the movie is very good. Despite the many storylines and the fact that you already see a piece of the ending at the beginning, you don’t feel lost while watching. This sequel has more focus on the political situation in the country instead of only the police and also shows the games that are played on that level. This results in a movie which feels bigger and actions have bigger consequences.
Just like in the first part, the acting is very good. Wagner Moura can really carry the weight of the film, but also his opponent, played by Irandhir Santos convinces. The movie shows all the violence in gory detail and does so convincingly, which only makes you feel more for the various characters.
If you haven’t seen the original yet, then my advice would be to watch it first. If you haven’t it’s still possible to enjoy this film although you won’t know anything about a couple of characters.
With a much deeper story, Tropa de Elite 2 is better as the original and worth watching.
Score: 9
I liked the first installment and have been hearing nothing but wild raves on this. Looking forward to get my hands on this but it seems it hasn’t even found a distributor in the US yet…
Saw the review on Anomalous Material and was nice to see that was positive as well. It’s really worth seeing.