Storytime: I was staying in the city and took myself to a late-night session of Hell or High Water. I had no idea what the movie was about, and it was all by chance that I was blown away. I left the cinema with that warm feeling, like ‘this is why we go to the movies’. Coming out of Wind River in 2017 was similar; the second of two well-written movies that resonated with me, with the connecting factor being Taylor Sheridan. Sheridan also has the Sicario movies under his belt, don’t forget – the first one in particular creates a brutally testing experience for Emily Blunt’s character and is a jolly good movie too. Whilst the trailer for Those Who Wish Me Dead doesn’t sell me too passionately, I’m backing in one of my modern-day favourites with the pen, and behind the camera, once again.
Owen Casserly (Jake Weber) discovers something he shouldn’t have, and he takes to the road with his son Connor (Finn Little), on the run from two menacing hitmen out to silence him (played by Aiden Gillen and Nicholas Hoult). Their destination is Montana, to a small alpine community where Owen’s brother-in-law is local law enforcement, Deputy Sherriff Ethan Sawyer (Jon Bernthal). Finding unavoidable catastrophe, Connor finds himself seeking refuge with a smokejumper, Hannah Faber (Angelina Jolie), in a watchtower, as the two hitmen close in, wreaking havoc on the town and anyone who crosses their path.
After a scattered opening, setting up all the appropriate personnel, Those Who Wish Me Dead delivers a satisfying thriller with a white-knuckling finish. I don’t remember Sheridan’s other movies being as melodramatic, just in terms of an ever-present score, mostly. You’d think, from the trailer, the movie is about Hannah suffering from an emotional turmoil as a result of a bad decision from the past; it’s not – that stuff is there, but it’s mostly to explain why Hannah is in the watchtower, and to give her some characterisation before the kid comes along. Her past doesn’t really affect the outcome of the movie at all, if only to give her character an added sense of validation at the end. No, the movie is mostly about the two hired goons out to kill Connor before he can talk to authorities, and they do make up the best scenes of the movie. Their dynamic reminded me of Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd from James Bond’s Diamonds Are Forever actually; just a tad more serious, but they are two extremely close hitmen with a mutual attitude towards precision. The secret behind the job they’re trailing turns out to be a very strong MacGuffin (it’s corruption and conspiracy of the highest order and some very important people need it to go away, but don’t ask any more questions than that) but I would love to see how Aiden Gillen’s character fits into this shrouded organisation; he’s the smartest guy in the movie, and he has the learned respect of his very capable apprentice too, the second smartest guy in the movie. One of the keenest aspects of the movie is how our villains are hardly putting a foot wrong, but things keep getting away from them, like dropping a ball of string and watching it unravel down the stairs. And there’s the clear time constraint to their job, that the movie is very often to annunciate. Yet, perhaps a few short scenes with Hannah’s fire-buddies introduced at the beer table, as they assess the rapidly growing forest fires, would have helped balance up the cat-and-mouse match-up caught up between these townspeople and these foreign-body assassins. But at least from my perspective, because I was a little worried when I first saw Gillen and Hoult, that they’d have small bit-parts when they’re better actors than that, end up being the best and most alluring part of the movie, even if they’re enacting very horrid things. Beware the Beast and Littlefinger; truly.
I’ve never been a massive fan of Angelina Jolie; I think around the time I got serious about movies, her strongest time in the spotlight had passed aside and all I’d really heard of her was about ‘Brangelina’. Apart from Girl, Interrupted, I don’t think I’ve ever caught up with much of her work that heralds her as a talent. She’s always been a hottie though, that’s the truth – ‘lean’, sorry, that’s what we’re going with here. Like I mentioned in the opener, Emily Blunt goes through the ringer in Sicario, and I guess we can come to expect it from a Taylor Sheridan movie now; that his heroines are going to suffer – watch out for a Tarantino-level reputation, but there’s no kid gloves for his female characters, put it that way, as they’re always rolling with some very nasty men. Hannah gets punched, falls, struck by lightning; all the while dealing with her emotional baggage. But Hannah isn’t really our hero, and nor is Connor; actor Finn Little is a good crier though, I’ll give him that – I felt the appropriate weight of his sadness in scenes where I was supposed to. Another character on the defence comes through an actor I’m always excited to see in Jon Bernthal; he even gets in a little frustrated head-rub at one point, as if Shane from The Walking Dead was right back in front of us. But hey, maybe he should learn to look the other way when Sheridan announces he has a new role for him; as if Wind River wasn’t brutal enough. But finally, our most heroic hero turns out to be a face that I don’t even think is in the trailer; Medina Senghore as Ethan’s pregnant wife Allison, is not a partner to be kept down. Her preparedness in a life-or-death situation excels when put to the test. Not all heroes wear capes; not all heroes even make the poster.
As a movie, Those Who Wish Me Dead is about what I expected. It probably sits down below on Sheridan’s catalogue, but there’s still a mark of care and quality that definitely shines through. I simply must give TV’s Yellowstone a try someday; starring Kevin Costner, with Taylor Sheridan behind it – what have I been doing with my life. Because Taylor Sheridan is still the man and I bet that series is amazing.
3.5
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