Filmmaker Taylor Sheridan is a fascinating filmmaking enigma. As a writer, he creates the most compelling of cinematic experiences—from Sicario, Hell or High Water to the stunning Wind River, which he also directed. He’s back pulling double duty with Those Who Wish Me Dead, out now on all home video formats, stars Angelina Jolie, and a bevy of brilliant actors that bring the harrowing tale to life.
Jolie stars as Hannah Faber, a smokejumper in Montana whose life is about to collide with a young teenage boy named Connor (Finn Little). She has issues over a past tragedy that has relegated her manning a tower station on that fateful day when she finds Connor running for his life from two of the most menacing killers, Patrick Blackwell (Nicholas Hoult) and Jack Blackwell (Aidan Gillen). His father Owen (Jake Weber) was a forensic accountant and when a Florida DA and his family die in a house explosion, Owen knows that he’s next. So, father and son hit the road to Montana to hide out at Connor’s uncle and aunt’s forestry abode.
Good thing, his uncle Ethan Sawyer (Jon Bernthal) is a town sheriff, and his wife is a survival school instructor. Sheridan has crafted a landscape with characters converging on this small forest-heavy part of Montana where forest fires are no joke and are neither are the steadfast folks who call the beautiful part of the country home. These killers are in the middle of the hellfire storm that includes perilous natural elements, the characters who look danger in the eye and keep walking towards it, and a steadfast kid who is now an orphan. He knows he must dig deep to fight every treacherous angle of this perilous storm that is coming for him.
Jolie is right at home in the role. There’s a maternal instinct that is innate to the Oscar-winning superstar that comes through in every frame. She also has an aptitude that is well documented in the action arena that gets exhibited repeatedly through Sheridan’s latest pule pounder. She also shines in the more serene moments, where she reflects on a past horror and even where her life is currently, and where it possibly can go.
At times, Those Who Wish Me Dead is brutal. Then again, so is much of what Sheridan has written in the past (Sicario, anyone?). But at its heart are characters we care about and want to escape the peril they find themselves firmly in where death and injury are right around every corner. The writer (he co-wrote the script with Michael Koryta—based on his book—and Charles Leavitt) has a knack for making things personal within the dichotomy that permeates his films. There’s always what’s right. Then again, when facing those who have no moral code, sometimes pursuing the right avenue is not the answer in Sheridan films. He blurs lines and the key to it working is how it is set up over the first act and into the second.
The payoff here, in the third act, is solid and emotionally rewarding. There is a reason for that and that is the hard work he did setting everything up in the first few acts. There’s the richness of the characters. There is just enough of each character’s DNA to hook us without going into great detail. Sure, Jolie’s Faber gets a wee bit more background, because one, she’s the “main” character, and two, she has a haunting backstory that shadows over the entire film. Given that fact, her relationship with Connor is surprisingly touching and yes, has the potential for major redemption. What moviegoer doesn’t like a story about redemption? It may be the greatest storytelling tool in the toolbox and Sheridan does not wield it all willy-nilly. This is a precision emotional hit to the heart with action raging on all sides, something the writer (and director) does best.
Jolie is pitch-perfect. At first, we are introduced to her at a smokejumpers graduation and she and her veteran pals are drinking and raising a ruckus. With a stroke of backstory and a whole lot of fun, we are attached to this crew, particularly her and Sheriff Sawyer—who stops by to ensure everyone is planning on behaving on this day. Of course, they don’t.
The fun of those opening moments is quickly stashed as our tale gets its “meat” of the plot within those first 15 minutes. It’s an explosive start that will take us across the entire United States from Florida to Montana, where our story resides and flourishes.
The Oscar-winning actress has a command that is impossible to ignore. Even if she is a wild card, she is an individual who we have been told has “failed” her psych evaluation, we are still firmly with her. More importantly, viewers pull for her to not only “get better” and all that means, but also to discover her purpose beyond saving lives in the forest. She will discover both when Connor runs into her in that dense stretch of forest, his father’s blood smeared across his face, completely emotionally lost. As Sheridan writes it, they are like two peas in a pod. Over the course of the next 90 minutes or so, their connection is what drives this story to a place that makes it resonant.
The supporting cast is sublime. I have always liked Bernthal, whether in The Walking Dead, The Wolf of Wall Street, Baby Driver, or Fury. There’s something about the actor that is so commanding on the screen. It’s something that is impossible to direct. You either have it or you don’t. He has it in spades. His character is married to Allison (Medina Senghore) and she’s six months pregnant. The connection between these two is palpable and adds layers to the emotional core of the picture. She is fabulous. Also, Allison is no wallflower. Even six months pregnant, she can wield a rifle like a champ and plays an enormous role in whether our protagonists will outsmart and out gun our antagonists by the time the credits roll.
Hoult is a fascinating casting choice. He’s played heroes in the X-Men series and generally “nice guys” throughout his career. Hoult’s Blackwell is a stalking killer through and through. In fact, as the actor plays him, he is quite at home traversing the thick forest tracking prey like a hunter. It is a vicious portrayal and one that should open even more doors for the talented Brit. Gillen, his partner in crime, is equally as forceful. Yet, he is also the brains of this operation and always has one eye on the bigger prize and one eye firmly on the target. Between the two of them, it is a villainous twosome that matches the intenseness of the burgeoning forest fire that will rage before all is said and done.
Sheridan has crafted a thrill ride with Those Who Wish Me Dead that is succinct, tightly wound, and full of suspense and thrills. The conclusion is always in doubt, something that has become his calling card, a priceless gift in a storyteller. It’s gotten to the point where if his name is attached, that alone will make it worthy to witness his magic.
Oscar-winner Jolie stars as Hannah, a smoke jumper reeling from the loss of three young lives she failed to save from a fire. When she comes across a bloodied and traumatized 12-year-old boy, the two set out together to cross miles of thick forest. Braving deadly lightning storms that challenge even Hannah’s well-honed survival skills, they’re unaware of the true dangers they face as they’re hunted by two killers while a massive fiery blaze heads straight for them.
Those Who Wish Me Dead comes home on Blu-ray and digital and features an above-average EPK-type making-of featurette. The first thing that comes to mind watching Making Those Who Wish Me Dead is that Jolie is game for anything, as long as it can make the film better, more suspenseful, more emotion… you name it.
This featurette is also a fantastic opportunity to bask in the genius that is Sheridan. Witnessing the choices he makes in certain scenes, how he is with his ensemble, all taking into account something that couldn’t have been more sacred and that is safety.
It is a brief making-off, but we’ll take it. Bet watching Sheridan’s flick, you had no idea that he had substituted New Mexico for Montana?! Anytime you’re dealing with fire, already there have to be red flags. Getting a front-row seat to how a “protected forest” was crafted from dying trees is a fascinating one, and earth-saving on top of that.
Film Grade: B+
Bonus Features: B