Taylor Sheridan is a talent to watch. Already he’s given us Sicario and its sequel (screenplays), Hell or High Water (Oscar-nominated screenplay), Wind River (writer, director), and the smash TV series Yellowstone (co-creator, writer, director). Sheridan grew up in Texas, he’s worked real jobs, and this is apparent in his work. He gets Rural America and what drives men to do certain jobs. He respects that part of our culture and does so without patronizing it.
His latest feature as director and co-writer (adapting the movie from Michael Koryta’s novel), Those Who Wish Me Dead is worth a look, but still a disappointment. While there are some good moments, there’s no overall sense of peril and the plot holes are so big they boggle the mind.
Two brutal assassins (Aiden Gillen and Nocholas Hoult) are determined to protect some very powerful politicians whose wrongdoings have been uncovered by a local district attorney and his forensic accountant Owen Casserly (Jake Weber).
An explosion puts Casserly on the run with his young son Connor (Finn Little). They’re headed to Montana where Casserly’s brother-in-law, Deputy Sheriff Ethan Sawyer (Jon Bernthal) and his survivalist wife (Medina Senghore) live. After the assassins catch up to them, Connor is all on his own in the Montana wilderness. He’s also carrying the information that can bring down all these politicians, so now the assassins are hunting him.
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Lucky for Connor he meets up with Hannah (Angelina Jolie) a troubled smokejumper still suffering PTSD from mistakes she believes she made during the last big fire.
There are a few things I loved about Those Who Wish Me Dead. I loved that Hannah was both sexy and cool, a good-time gal who can take a sexist joke from her firefighter pals in the spirit given (bonding by way of ball-breaking) and then give it right back. I really loved that a black woman (Senghore) was cast as an unapologetic and capable Montana survivalist. Most of all, I loved watching macho smokejumpers mock a hipster. In all kinds of subversive ways, including the arch-villain being a black man (a superb Tyler Perry in a single scene), this movie is anti-woke.
What’s lacking is sustained tension. There are certain scenes where your stomach knots up a bit, but the overall story leaps around so much from character to character, you never truly worry about whether or not Connor and Hannah will survive.
I also never bought into the relationship between Hannah and Connor. They’re supposed to be healing one another — he’s her chance at redemption, she’s an adult he can trust — and nothing about this felt real. The two have zero chemistry and their dialogue just lays there.
As far as plot holes… Where to begin? There’s the suspension of disbelief and then there’s pure BS. The MacGuffin here is the knowledge that can undo these politicians. The BS is that we’re supposed to believe in 2021 this information only exists in the head of the D.A. and the forensic accountant, who then passes it on to his young son so he can get it to the media. Maybe instead of painting a target on his son’s back, he should’ve done an email blast to every media outlet in the country? Or to every lawyer in the country? Or how about just everyone in the country? This would have also saved his own life. It just makes no sense.
How the assassins find Casserly is almost as ridiculous.
Then there’s Hannah surviving a 40 foot fall and not even getting the wind knocked out of her. Not long after, she’s struck by lightning and gets right back up. Even more absurd is how she avoids being shot by a trained gunman by running around a tree trunk like something out of an Elmer Fudd cartoon… It’s truly idiotic.
Finally, a raging forest fire never felt real because it’s obviously CGI.
Back in the 90s, Hollywood turned out movies like this — adult thrillers fronted by big movie stars — every other week. So it’s good to see grownups on screen wearing something other than spandex, and the movie truly does have its charms and moments.
Unfortunately, in the end, there’s no overcoming the shortcomings.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.
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