![]() He’s a forensic accountant who has uncovered a maguffin’s worth of incriminating evidence against Important People (represented by Tyler Perry in a brief cameo and a great suit), and who goes on the run with his young son Connor (an excellent, stoic Finn Little). Meanwhile, all the way over in Florida, two hitmen, played in a fabulously weird double act (reminsicent of classic noir “Murder by Contract”) by Aiden Gillen and Nicolas Hoult, are turning their murderous attention to Ethan’s brother-in-law Owen (Jake Weber). Hannah has been put on lookout duty in a watchtower - seemingly a demotion of some sort - much to the amusement of her ex, Ethan (Jon Bernthal), a local sheriff’s deputy whose wife, Allison (Medina Senghore), is heavily pregnant. But also possibly because she’s Angelina Jolie - the actress is as committed as she’s ever been but however grimy her face, it’s still that face, and it’s hard to see it as ordinary. She is tough and respected within her otherwise all-male crew, possibly because she’s the type of woman who oozes a sort of machisma and who would never, given the choice, sit on a chair the right way round. Hannah (Jolie) is a veteran wildfire-fighter with the Montana forest service, who is haunted by the memory of the kids she didn’t save from that one blaze that time (I know how this sounds, but stick with it). But the off-kilter sensibility remains, and it gives the film, which is most straightforwardly a thriller, an air of thoughtfulness, and a slightly mournful edge that even the plot’s silliest hairpins can’t quite dull. Here Sheridan is co-writing with Charles Leavitt and Michael Koryta, the author of the book on which “Those Who Wish Me Dead” is based. Frankenstein, with strangely human foibles, oddly human hearts. Once again, as in the screenplays for “Sicario,” “Hell and High Water” and (his directorial debut) “Wind River,” Sheridan’s peculiar, refreshing talent lies in writing characters that adhere to the strictest archetypes culled from across the genre spectrum - the tortured tough guy/gal, the ornery sheriff, the ruthless hitman - and then animating them, like a screenwriting Dr. Instead, it’s one of the genre hybrids for which Sheridan has carved out a small, mid-budget, ‘90s-throwback niche: part eco-thriller, part western, part noir and part soulful, twangy drama. ![]() But not because it’s no good rather, because it’s hardly an action movie at all, despite its high-octane kickstart and an early, misfit-crew-facing-natural-disasters vibe that’s straight out of “Twister” or “Armageddon.” Taylor Sheridan’s “Those Who Wish Me Dead” in which Jolie plays a whisky-swiggin’, trash-talkin’, trauma-suppressin’ smoke jumper who is parachuting into a raging Montana wildfire as the movie opens, is not going to change that. ![]()
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