THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD (2021)

THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD (2021)

Tagline:  Run, Hide, Fight

(Action, Drama, Thriller) [R]

It's about our baby girl. Nothing matters if she don't make it.

In this one, a boy’s father has learned some very dark secret doing his job that leads all the way up to the police department. It’s so intense that his colleague is killed over it, and now he and his son Connor, (played by Finn Little) must go into hiding to avoid assassins that have been called in to eliminate him. As events unfold,  a community in Montana is dragged into peril as the assassins decide to start a forest fire to keep local authorities off their trail after Connor’s father changes what should have been a simple hit into a murderous contest of hide and seek.   

THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD is one of those movies where the hero is actually not either of the two main characters the movie centers around. Yes, Angelina Jolie’s character “Hannah” is doing her best to keep Connor safe, but she wouldn’t have stood a chance if it wasn’t for another character. I don’t want to say too much, but I think this other character for me was more essential to the plot than either of the leads. 

Setting wise we have Angelina Jolie leading a team of smokejumpers. They are basically an elite fire fighting force that deals with forest fire fighting. Some are claiming Jolie feels out of place for the role, but there are real-life female smokejumpers. There was actually another TV movie about a female smokejumper that came out back in 2008. When I was growing up my first job choice would have been to be a forest firefighter but didn’t end up going in that direction. I will also say that Montana is freakin beautiful.

The performances in this movie are very strong. Jolie is good, but I didn’t like her as a character just from the perspective that even if you were a bit of a loose cannon or a little crazy, it’s not likely you would be passing the time dropping “F-bombs” with a little kid after you just told him you were an authority figure. I think if they were going to sing something it would have been more appropriate to pull out some classic rock song or even something the kid might already know. Finn Little is good in this and you can tell why he gets a bunch of roles. Nicolas Hoult plays one of the assassins in this movie and he is freakin ruthless. I called his mom and told her to only let Nicolas play good guys movie forward because we love him the way he is. Jon Bernthal plays a local cop named Ethan, and he’s solid as per freakin usual. Medina Senghore is mind-blowing and out of everyone we get on screen I freakin liked her the most. Give this woman whatever role she wants. Aidan Gillen who plays “Littlefinger” from the “Game Of Thrones” is just as annoying as usual in this, so if you love seeing him play jerks, this is the movie for you. 

The fire effects and score are pretty solid, but I can’t stand country music, so the few moments of that are worth suffering through. This movie does have its downsides and it’s not exactly all roses and candy so if you are in the movie for something light, skip this one. The storyline feels like a bit of a stretch, but I expect every movie I see to be a bit of a stretch. This isn’t a documentary. Overall I have to give this thing a 5 out of 7. I really don’t understand the hate unless people just have a stick up their butt’s about Jolie, the fact that it’s very different from the book, or maybe they hate firefighters or some crap like that.
 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF BRON STUDIOS AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

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