Those Who Wish Me Dead - A Cool Enough Angelina Jolie Action Thriller Movie

I have seen this movie promoted last month in several cinemas' social medias. It was released in the theater for a while before it was replaced with newer films. Yesterday it was finally released on various streaming platforms for a certain fee. So it was definitely nice for people who did not get the chance to see it then. OK, let's get to it.

Brief Story Line

Hannah (Angelina Jolie - Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, The Tourist etc) was a smokejumper struggling with the ghost of her past and resulted to her having some altercations with local sheriff Ethan (Jon Bernthal - The Punisher TV series, Sicario etc). She was also demoted and posted on fire lookout tower in the forest.  

Meanwhile a forensic accountant named Owen (Jake Weber - Medium TV series etc) was being hunted by 2 assassins Patrick (Nicholas Hoult - The Current War, Mad Max: Fury Road etc) and Jack (Aidan Gillen - Bohemian Rhapsody, Peaky Blinders TV series etc) for having sensitive information. Together with his young son Connor (Finn Little), Owen tried to escape to Montana where his brother in-law Ethan was living with his pregnant wife Allison (Medina Senghore). Things also got complicated when there was huge fire in the forest.

And how would the story conclude? You can find them all in this action thriller movie.

End of Brief Story Line

Well that was not bad. This movie had some pretty decent action sequence and it was certainly helped by the ruthlessness of the 2 assassins played nicely by Hoult and Gillen. They suited their roles quite perfectly, especially Gillen who certainly had a knack for playing a villain. But the action here was not the type of having many hand to hand fight scenes but more of a cat and mouse type where the bad guys trying to capture the good guys on the run. Don't get me wrong though, the movie was rated R for the violence.

Now one thing that I did not enjoy too much was the first half hour which to me moved in a rather slow pace. It was not truly what I expected since the critics/audience comments gave a bit of full thrill impression. However, after passing that half hour, I thought the pace really picked up and the suspense was definitely felt. 

The movie seemed to rely on the stardom of Angelina Jolie, and I think a lot of audience gave it a try due to her. For me her performance here was OK as a frustrated smokejumper. But do not expect this to be a film where Jolie would perform lots of action stunts like in Wanted or Tomb Raider, though there was a nice one during the climax. One scene reminded me a bit of the 1998 action movie titled Firestorm (starring Howie Long). Btw, there was no mid or post end credit scene at all in here and the duration of around 100 minutes was just nice.

This film was directed by Taylor Sheridan who has directed Wind River and first season of Yellowstone TV series which he co-created. If you seem to be familiar with his name, he was also the writer of Sicario (and its sequel) and that Wind River which was nominated for various awards. Oh, there was also a surprise brief appearance by Tyler Perry and few other support cast like Torry Kittles (Colony TV series etc).

Overall this was a nice enough action thriller movie. An old fashioned type of violent movie with some suspense and a really not complicated story. I think those who looked for such attributes in a film would like this one. And it will be an added value if you are a fan of Angelina Jolie. I myself was thrilled and quite entertained. You can give this a try easily as it is already available via online streaming..

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars