"Wind River" Movie Review

by John Zenoni

Saw an excellent film today directed by Taylor Sheridan. Mr. Sheridan is probably best known for writing the screenplays for two other excellent movies, 'Sicario' and 'Hell or High Water'. His latest credit as screenwriter is 'Wind River', for which he is also making his directorial debut. I can assure you he does not disappoint. This is an excellent film in so many ways. I will start off up front by saying while not as strong of a movie as the other two I mentioned, this is still a film you must see.

The story is about a US Fish & Wildlife Tracker (played by Jeremy Renner, excellent as always) and an FBI agent (played by Elizabeth Olsen, who has definitely established herself as a real actor and cannot nor should be compared to her older twin Olsen sisters from the "Full House" series) who have teamed up to try and solve a murder on the Wind River Native American reservation. Each has their own issues they are struggling with - Jeremy Renner's character is still struggling with the death of his 16 year old daughter three years ago and Olsen's character is trying to prove herself as an agent. The storyline itself is 'inspired' by a true story according to the opening credits and at the end my mouth was left hanging open by the statistics rolling at the end credits. 

All the actors in the film are excellent and I have to also give a shout out to one of my other all time favorite actors, Jon Bernthal, for making a guest appearance (a small role but critical to the plot) and killing it as usual. 

As the film goes on, it starts slow but definitely picks up speed, it gets hard to watch what happens (3 people actual left and did not return) but the ending is a satisfying one and yet also makes you think about real life as, again, I go back to the reference to the statistics at the end. 

This is a film that should definitely be recognized come awards season. Great film!!!



Originally Posted 8/28/17


Related:



"Hell or High Water" is a Modern Western Masterpiece