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Those Who Wish Me Dead Movie Review

Those Who Wish Me Dead is a 2021 action thriller film directed by Taylor Sheridan and starring Angelina Jolie. It is a well acted, but somewhat silly movie.

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“No one makes it through that, baby“

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A teenage murder witness finds himself pursued by twin assassins in the Montana wilderness with a survival expert tasked with protecting him while a forest fire threatening to engulf them all. A lot has been said about the nineties feel of this movie, which is all very true judging by its pulpy thrills and a strong emphasis on its major star to sell the whole movie. But the problem here is that the plot is so silly and downright mediocre that even a great execution in most technical areas could not elevate it all too much.

I would have been fine with just the firefighter plot and the strong focus on natural landscapes per usual for Sheridan, but no, he had to include a stupid assassins storyline and a kid on the run that also felt rather clichéd and predictable. It did lead to some rather fun action sequences, but I wasn’t impressed by its familiarity. The action in the movie is definitely entertaining, but also bordering on superheroics in some scenes with the most ridiculous one being that moment when Jolie jumps away from the impending thunder like some Tarzan.

Speaking of Jolie, she really surprised me here. At first, I was distracted by her full lips and perfect hair, thus I could not take her seriously in the firefighter role. Eventually though, I grew favorable toward her as she became much more confident in the role, and she particularly sold the more emotional scenes that were demanded of her.

She is much better in Those Who Wish Me Dead than anybody else. The kid character is forgettable and the two villains played by Nicholas Hoult and Aidan Gillen are fine, but rather typical. The movie isn’t a western, but it does benefit from wonderfully shot forest scenes with some gorgeous imagery of the Montana wilderness. The movie is incredibly well edited and directed, but this is no ‘Wind River’ as the sophistication was simply not there.

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