Taylor Sheridan has fast established himself as a transcendent screenwriter and creator over the past few years with his foray into examining the culture and issues surrounding the modern American west. His latest film continues on this front, though more on the side of straightforward action and thrills than socioeconomic analysis.
Those Who Wish Me Dead introduces us to Hannah (Angelina Jolie), a smoke jumper who is still reeling from a forest fire where he moment of panic resulted in the loss of three young boys’ lives. In her new job in a watchtower high above the Montana wilderness, she encounters Connor (Finn Little), a skittish boy who’s bloodied, traumatized, and on the run in the forest after witnessing the death of his accountant father at the hands of two shadowy assassins, Jack (Aidan Gillen) and Patrick (Nicholas Hoult). Hannah takes it upon herself to try to bring him to safety, but soon finds herself stuck back in her recurring nightmare, a fast growing, fiery blaze.
While not as socially probing as Sheridan’s previous work, particularly his unofficial modern American frontier trilogy that features three of the past decade’s best films in Sicario, Hell or High Water, and Wind River, Those Who Wish Me Dead maintains that familiar western setting with a story that’s more of a straightforward action thriller. Hannah’s redemption arc tries to add a bit of emotional heft and poetry to the film’s script as she tries to overcome the demons of her past failures by seizing a second chance at saving a young life in the midst of a wildfire, but it is not the film’s core theme or something that provides a lot of depth. What does power the film and make it a thrilling and engrossing watch are the performances of Aidan Gillen and Nicholas Hoult who portray two of the most insanely evil and efficient assassins put to screen in recent memory. The stone cold killers are a killing force that cannot be steered away from their mission to take out their target no matter what they encounter. Their demeanor and actions evoke the same feeling of any horror film killer (Jason, Freddy, Michael Myers, take your pick) in the form of shadowy assassin’s. The result is the bulk of the film’s entertainment value and a good vehicle for Gillen and Hoult to show off their range, particularly in the case of Hoult who convincingly portrays a character unlike any he’s played before.
The duo are also operate as a kind of personification of a wildfire, the phenomenon that is so centered in the film. Much like a wildfire’s flames, they begin quietly and out of sight before quickly spreading dangerously out of control, sneaking up on an unsuspecting populace who must then struggle to both not get caught up in their wave of destruction, but stop their path before they consume all unlucky enough to be around them. The metaphor works and the actors perform well enough to live up to the fear and heat of an unwieldly blaze.
As mentioned previously, Those Who Wish Me Dead is similar to previous Sheridan fare and its scenic cinematography serving as an ode to the beauty of the landscape of the western United States fits right in along with the best shots in Yellowstone or Wind River. The camera work here isn’t anything to write home about, not interesting angles or perspective, clever use of shadow or light, but the presentation of the New Mexican wilderness where the film was shot is enough to make audiences consider a scenic trip to the American southwest.
While it may not thematically reach the heights of what we’ve seen previously from Taylor Sheridan, Those Who Wish Me Dead works as an action thriller featuring villains who are brutal and easy to root against in Gillen and Hoult facing off against characters you hope to see escape their deadly clutches and survive. For some viewers, it may be bothersome that the film never explains what exactly it is that Connor’s forensic accountant father uncovered and turned over to the authorities and who exactly he testified against other than the blanket catchall of politicians and powerful people. To them I say, use your imagination. Unfortunately, due to the simplistic, popcorn fair that now dominates multiplexes nationwide, viewers are trained to expect a a line of dialogue or exposition that conveniently ties everything in a digestible, easy to understand bow. To that I say, expand your palate. With competent filmmaking, some things are intentionally unexplained or ambiguous, with the viewer left to fill in the blanks. Explaining everything out during a dedicated scene treats audiences like morons with no imagination. Sometimes dreading what may be or might’ve been makes for a more frightful or tense watch than having things served on a platter for you. Those Who Wish Me Dead is a throwback thriller that Hollywood unfortunately doesn’t make many of any longer.
Image: Warner Bros.
