A teenage murder witness finds himself pursued by twin assassins in the Montana wilderness with a survival expert tasked with protecting him — and a forest fire threatening to consume them all.
Chuck says:
Ostensibly a remake of the Sylvester Stallone actioner “Cliffhanger,” Taylor Sheridan’s profoundly disappointing “Those Who Wish Me Dead” is a film that does little right while keeping originality at arm’s distance. Obvious and dull, the movie has Angelina Jolie returning to her action movie roots, though traipsing about the forests of Montana is a bit different from raiding tombs. Would that there was anything remotely as clever as the Rube Goldberg booby traps featured in those big screen video game adaptations here, those movies looking like classics when compared to this dog.
Jolie is Hannah Faber, a haunted Montana firefighter who can’t forgive herself for a handful of deaths she feels responsible for in a recent forest fire. Reckless and crass, she’s alienated almost everyone she’s ever known, including ex-fiancé, state Trooper Ethan Sawyer (Jon Bernthal). Her efforts at self-isolating – she’s gotten herself assigned to one of those remote lookout towers in the middle of the woods – all go for naught, when one day she stumbles upon a young teen on the run from two hitmen (Yes, you read that correctly…)
That would be Connor (Finn Little), who has the grave misfortune of having a dad who was a forensic accountant who stumbled on some things he shouldn’t have. Now don’t go to the trouble of asking just what he found or who exactly is threatened by it. You won’t get any answers. In just one example of Sheridan’s lackadaisical approach, the threat is referred to in hush tones and vague generalities, the import underscored by Tyler Perry in a blink and you’ll miss it cameo, who appears in a single scene to implore the pair of assassins, the Brothers Blackwell (Nicholas Hoult and Aiden Gillen) to, having already killed the father, tie up any loose ends, find the boy and kill him.
I can’t say this for sure, as Mr. Sheridan did not call and consult me personally, but I suspect he had a well-worn copy of “Screenwriting Cliches for Dummies,” close at hand while working on this script. Having enjoyed his work on “Hell or High Water and “Yellowstone,” the lazy effort on display here qualifies as a major disappointment. The many predicaments Hannah and Connor have to contend with are predictable and blandly executed, while the circumstances of the plot hold no water and are, quite frankly, stupid. Perhaps most disappointing is Sheridan’s version of pithy dialogue, which consists of his loutish characters dropping the F-bomb as often as they can.
Overlong at 100 minutes, the cast goes through the motions, none save for Medina Senghorn as Sawyer’s resourceful, pregnant wife, bringing any sense of emotion or investment to their roles. As for the main star, this is obviously a paycheck movie for Jolie, as she sleepwalks through it, her line readings betraying little in the way of emotion, her far-off stares conveying only a trace of recognition to the world around her. With this and the two “Maleficent” films, she’s gone from being one of our most intriguing actresses to being an overpaid somnambulist.
The thing that bothers me most about films like “Those” is the sense that everyone involved just decided to phone it in. The people involved in this are very talented and capable of far more than what’s on display here and I’ve enjoyed their work over the years. There’s little in the way of pride present here – instead, what we get is a by-the-numbers movie, you’re likely to forget about five minutes after it ends.
1 1/2 Stars
Pam says:
Yes, the movie world is make-believe and suspending belief is oftentimes a requirement, but casting Angelina Jolie as not just a fire fighter but a forest fire fighter is pushing my imagination a bit too far. Physicality for the role is a requirement and I just couldn’t buy into Jolie in this role which, for me, set the film behind the eight ball from the very beginning.
As Hannah (Jolie) struggles with her past decisions while on the job, resulting in the death of three young boys, her new position as tower lookout places her in the path of a young boy who is running for his life after witnessing the brutal murder of his father (Jake Weber). Together, Hannah and Connor, inadvertently pulling more and more victims into the killers’ path, must kill or be killed.
Yes, you know how this ends. This is as predictable a film as you could possibly imagine, but pair the predictability with cartoon-like good guys and bad guys with stilted dialogue and you’ve got an emotionless and lifeless rendition of a movie. Categorizing this as a dramatic thriller is giving it much more credit than it is due.
The film, directed by Taylor Sheridan who gave us the incomparable “Hell or High Water” and “Wind River,” disappoints us as “Those Who Wish Me Dead” is nothing more than a cat and mouse chase with gruesome violence and special effects. The forest fires rip and roar through the land, consuming everything and everyone in its path, a spectacular special effect, and the cinematography which captures the beauty of “Montana” (filming was in New Mexico), the cast of characters are nothing more than stereotypical villains and victims who fight to the bloody end.
The standout of the film is young Finn Little who is able to tap into his character with ease while Jolie appears to constantly mug for the camera. Overall, “Those Who Wish Me Dead” is a gory, repetitive, and dull action film filled with questionable decisions by the one-dimensional characters uttering flat dialogue. However, I do want to go and do some hiking near Albuquerque now thanks to this film.
1 Star
