Those Who Wish Me Dead

 

A young teenage boy sits grimacing as he picks at a manky looking pre-prepared meal. He asks the woman beside him if she eats them too.

"3 meals a day."

"No wonder you're so skinny."

"I'm lean buddy, I'm lean."

Lean. A perfect description of Taylor Sheridan's new action thriller. It all comes in at under 100 minutes. You've got to love that in an age of bloat. The fact that the film itself is an enjoyable slice of fluff is nice too i suppose..

Trauma clashes with trauma when Hannah (Angelina Jolie) and Connor (Finn Little) meet in the woods of Montana. She's a fire fighter haunted by the memory of a tragedy during a forest blaze and he's on the run after his accountant father has been gunned down by a pair of assassins. As they try to reach civilisation the killers (Aiden Gillen and Nicholas Hoult) start a fire to cover their tracks and begin to stalk them. The only person with an inkling of what's happening is Ethan (Jon Bernthal), the local sheriff with a connection to the hunted party. But he's got Allison (Medina Senghore), his pregnant wife, on his mind too and his day gets really bad when he spots a man made inferno on the horizon.

We don't get many films like this anymore. Big action films with starry casts and an epic sweep that are aimed squarely at adults, laced with the type of profanity and crunching violence that would make those studios constantly seeking the family dollar stop in their tracks. It's refreshing, a throwback to a time before franchises were everything. A simple story well told. It's little wonder Jolie choose it as her return to big films. Here she's jumping, hacking and slashing, reminding you of her action roots, before real life and CGI Panda films took over. Her interactions with Finn Little feel maternal and natural. But she's not called on to carry the film on her shoulders either, with the work being shared out amongst the ensemble cast. Everyone gets their time to shine here and at times the film's most satisfying moments go to the actors you'll know the least.

Jolie's definitely the most recognisable face but it's Medina Senghore as Allison who'll have you cheering especially during her two interactions with Aiden Gillen's hitman Jack. She's pregnant, you'll be on edge, but her condition isn't going to define her character and oh yeah, satisfaction is guaranteed. Casting Jon Bernthal as her husband is a clever move. We're used to seeing him hulking around the screen, dishing out bloody justice but here his character is used another way, adding a nice touch of unpredictability to proceedings. Playing against type also is Nicholas Hoult as Patrick, the other half of the murderous duo. We've watched him grow up onscreen. Odd little Marcus from About A Boy, the X-Men films, Skins etc so seeing him approaching a child intending to slash his throat will give anyone an effective shiver.

But's it's this moment and others in the latter half of the story that make the film falter and cheapen it slightly. The baddies are introduced as a pair of vicious killers, who'll pop anyone to hide evidence of a hit and start gigantic fires to divert attention away from themselves. They're organised, have obvious military training & smarts. So why have them make stupid decisions, split up, talk instead of shoot, turn their backs on enemies, all the silly things that every common or garden film baddie does. It's all in the name of plot armour for our heroes and it definitely will lift you out of the story at times.

Those Who Wish Me Dead is streaming online now if you use a VPN and hopefully will get a cinema release later in the year here. It's a film that will do well on the big screen where it's visual and visceral impact will have a bigger wallop. It's far from perfect but it's entertaining and crunchy. Sometimes that's all you'll need.