Those Who Wish Me Dead - Review Thread

Those Who Wish Me Dead(6/1/2021)
Angelina Jolie is an actor who in some way feels like a bit of a relic of a time when “movie stars” were enough to make a movie bankable, but we now live in a time when franchises make movies rather than stars and outside of her work in the Maleficent franchise she hasn’t done much high profile acting at all in the last ten years opting instead to try directing and producing. But apparently she was feeling nostalgic or something so she took a very traditional starring role in a very traditional star vehicle called Those Who Wish Me Dead which has resulted in rather mediocre results. The film, which has a much cooler title than it deserves, is set in Montana and deals with a situation where a pair of assassins have been sent against a forensic accountant who has evidence against organized crime and his son and this pursuit ends up colliding with a sheriff and his wife as well as a forest fire fighter played by Jolie. The film was directed by Taylor Sheridan, who made some fairly interesting thrillers as a screenwriter (Sicario, Hell or High Water) and as a director (Wind River), but this feels like a step backwards for him. There’s still some clear competence behind the camera and Sheridan elicits some decent performances and brings some workable action scenes to the film, but the whole thing lacks any real vision or flair and just generally lacks anything memorable and noteworthy. The whole thing feels like a throwback to the late 90s or maybe early 2000s. “Die Hard in a forest” wouldn’t be a perfect analogy since there are only two villains but it kind of speaks to the era of thriller this is harkening back to. The movie likely will provide passable enough entertainment if watched through free streaming on a Saturday afternoon or something, but temper all expectations.

**1/2 out of Five