Those Who Wish Me Dead is a thriller about smokejumper Hannah(Angelina Jolie) who, after a difficult mission, is stationed at a fire watch tower and encounters a young boy Connor(Finn Little) on the run from two mob assassins, Patrick(Nicholas Hoult) and Jack(Aidan Gillen), after his father uncovered an extensive criminal/political conspiracy and was killed.
Jolie isn't well cast here and although she puts in commendable effort the character is drawn too thin and the plot too derivative and garish to garner/maintain much interest. Little is decent but he too is given little to do save for run, cry, and appear baffled. Hoult plays his killer with virtually no emotion or investment, a choice, but makes for a pretty boring villain. This paired with Gillen who also goes minimal makes for very little menace and tension. Overall the cast are all good actors but they are almost universally miscast.
After writer/director Taylor Sheridan's back to back success with Sicario and Hell Or High Water is has yet to recapture that magic. Here although rural Montana is the setting it has relatively little personality, the CGI fires distractingly and clearly fake, the action is minimal and uninspired, and although there is certainly a decent story within the script the end result is banal and feels like something that was written 15 years ago and has sat on a shelf since. Too many characters and too little focus create an inability to connect with what's going on save for the surrealist pregnant woman Medina Senghore who is only a tangential character.
Flat and uninspired.
Currently in theaters and streaming on HBO Max.
Don't See It.
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