‘Those Who Wish Me Dead’ centers around Hannah (Angelina Jolie) who is a wilderness survival expert who made the wrong call in a fire’s direction causing a disaster that haunts her to this day. While doing a safety watch up in a tower, she comes across a young boy whose car was shot off the road, killing his father who may have sensitive information that expert hitmen are after. Will Hannah be able to keep this boy safe from the hitmen after him, while an unexpected fire surrounds her path to escape?
Director Taylor Sheridan is known mainly for writing award-winning films like Sicario, Hell or High Water, and also directing Wind River. This film has an old-school action thriller that I really enjoyed. the hits are impactful, and the heroes and villains in this are extreme and flawed. I was surprised HBO Max or WB didn’t allow screeners for this because this is a pretty entertaining film.
Angelina Jolie is back! I was very impressed with her raw performance that is both strong in character and well-acted. Supporting actors like John Bernthal, Nicholas Hoult, and Finn Little are all very good. The story is unique in focusing on the firefighter’s side of forest fires and the true horror and devastation one could bring. The special effects really make you feel like the actors are in the fire and the suspense in the movie is expertly done.
Overall, ‘Those Who Wish Me Dead’ was a surprisingly good watch. I don’t know why WB didn’t let critics review it early, but I would say check it out if you are a fan of the directors previous work. It may not be as high up as ‘Sicario’ but stillentertaining!
