You guys have been Cinema Sins'd out of your minds.
1) People don't acquit themselves perfectly in their professions. Consider your own professional performance, all the times you've messed up, how you talk on the job (particularly in situations where you just happen to be the closest resource to a crisis). If you were a character in a film, would a viewer like yourself find you unrealistic? Probably.
2) Can we assume that you're on some conspiracy theory shit with regard to most mass shootings? After all, how could those guys have possibly intended to make it out? People are often completely irrational and act entirely against their own interests. (Donald Trump is president)
For a film, what matters is characterization, and, though minimal in this case, the desperation and pack mentality are consistent across both scenes of violence involving the security guys ("rangers").
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKz4NxpFW5I
You motherfucker.....
lol
I'll expand then. It's not just the unprofessionalism, it's that I feel her part, considering it is a lead and comparable, in a small way, to that of the lead of Sicario, is lacking. Yes, the unprofessionalism is strange (as is Olson's acting emphasis of it at times and not others). Part of it is as seemingly written, but I'd argue part of it is in the performance. When connecting the way her part is written and acted to the overall movie, that of it's idea of how landscapes and (lack of) community shape people, particularly men, the idea of the female FBI agent being a naive fish-out-of-water doesn't quite jive with me.
As for the violent, climactic shootout ending of the film, which is what it is, I just don't like the direction of it (from my memory of seeing it in theaters). Again, Sicario had a breathtaking tense sequence of the highway shootout. Heck, I think the better scene is when she's partially blinded by the mace going through the decrepit house. Having the standoff that preceded the shootout feature so many cuts, and done with so many new characters, made it difficult to understand the geography of the scene; in other words, there is a lack of tension because trying to apply a film logic to its setup kind of just makes it confusing. Then, with the actual shootout, it becomes perfunctory. At this point, we know who is being left out of the rangers, so we know who is in the building, and there is no tension. Then, we get a silly moment when the two empty clips into one another at close range in a battle of masculinity of who will survive! And, of course, the white savior hidden in the pure snow to finish it all off with his rifle. Again, compared to his other work, the explosion of violence isn't as justified as that in Sicario and Hell or High Water.
I'll say this. I think Sheridan as a writer is doing really interesting stuff with masculinity, community, and environment and how they shape one another. That's why I think Hell or High Water is his best written work. I think the direction and some outstanding sequences elevate Sicario, and I think the workmanlike (at times) direction of Wind River really hold it back. That, and I hate saying this because I think the internet and this board likes to pick on actresses more than men, Elizabeth Olson is woefully miscast.
The straight forward story means he can dial in on the details of what happened to a much greater degree. There's a scene early on when Renner's character is showing Olson's a set of tracks, how they run into the distance, and up a mountainside, and what that implies. The film lingers here so we take in the information at the same pace as Olson's. Renner is never condescending - he's forever the patient, meticulous hunter. The film bears as deep on these details because through them we learn both what happened, and why; the harsh reality the people on the reservation face, the conditions that enable tragedy after tragedy to take place. It's as much a study of a place, of a fundamental injustice, as it is a procedural or character piece.
This is an example of the kind of stuff I really liked in it. And, again, I liked the movie. I just had a couple of problems with it.
