Film Review: “Those Who Wish Me Dead” (2021)

Angelina Jolie makes a strong case for the need for more grounded action thrillers.

Chris Salazar

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If the name Taylor Sheridan rings a bell, it’s because he is the same guy who wrote some of the most acclaimed thrillers of the 2010s: “Sicario” from 2015, the 2016 Academy Award-nominated “Hell or High Water”, and his 2017 directorial debut, “Wind River”. With his latest release, “Those Who Wish Me Dead”, he returns to the director's chair. Based on the novel by Bestselling author Michael Koryta, the film stars Angelina Jolie (Gia, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider), Jon Bernthal (The Accountant, Netflix’s The Punisher), and Nicolas Hoult (Max Max: Fury Road, X-Men: First Class).

Angelina Jolie plays Hannah, a Smokejumper who is reeling from a traumatic wildfire where she failed to save a few lives who primarily operates in a watchtower high above a forest in Montana. She soon encounters a boy in trouble named Connor, who is traumatized and on the run from a pair of relentless killers hunting him down. As Hannah vows to bring Connor to safety, The wilderness sets ablaze, leaving both of them trapped in a tense fight for survival.

The film’s narrative is very simple and has a plethora of cliches: child in peril, a protagonist with a traumatic past, the child is seen as a key to protagonists’ redemption, hitmen need to cut off loose ends, and the list goes on. That being said, in a world where every film is trying to be the next Marvel, DC, or Harry Potter in terms of extensive and (at times) exhausting world-building, “Those Who Wish Me Dead” is a breath of fresh air in comparison. Considering that this film feels like a combination of 1998’s “Mercury Rising” and 2017’s “Only The Brave”, I wasn't expecting a deep narrative and I was totally fine with that.

Angelina Jolie has a strong history in her filmography when it comes to playing strong leads on-screen and in this film, she knocks it out of the park. She portrays Hannah in a very likable and occasionally sympathetic fashion and she sells it with ease. Child actors get a bad rap in films and are often seen as whiny or annoying. Fortunately, that's not the case for Finn Little who acts opposite Jolie as Connor. While his backstory is trivial and generic, I found myself empathizing with his…

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Chris Salazar

28 | Fiction Writer | usually writes about anything but, mostly about film