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Wind River (dir. Taylor Sheridan)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZgN0dpFoaE

The trailer came out earlier this week. and it's a western directed by the guy that wrote Sicario and Hell or High Water.

Synopsis:
WIND RIVER is a chilling thriller that follows a rookie FBI agent (Elizabeth Olsen) who teams up with a local game tracker with deep community ties and a haunted past (Jeremy Renner) to investigate the murder of a local girl on a remote Native American Reservation in the hopes of solving her mysterious death.

Comes out in August, but it's been getting a lot of good buzz.
 

Dalek

Member
I heard Jeremy Renner promoting this on Howard Stern so I just watched the trailer. Looks must see for sure-will be watching. Great premise.
 

Kin5290

Member
The whole dynamic of "weary, grizzled, experienced veteran male" and "young, inexperienced to the point of incompetent female" looks pretty damn tiresome. And of course the lead is a white man living around Native Americans.

A shame, because Sheridan is pretty good with visuals and tone.
 

KodaRuss

Member
Definitely going to see this when I can. Looks great and a Hawkeye/Scarlett Witch reunion is a great for any movie.
 

Montresor

Member
I saw this movie on Friday and I'm thinking about it right now, trying to go to bed, but filled with excited thoughts about this film.

I absolutely loved it. The first 20 or so minutes were slow. Really slow. Then the movie becomes intriguing. I started to enjoy it a little bit. Then the last 30-45 minutes gripped the heck out of me. The final act / act-and-a-half were mind-blowing to me.

The three things I loved the most about the movie (spoilers):

#1: The medical examiner arguing with Elizabeth Olsen's character, insisting that he can't in good conscience label Natalie's death as a homocide. Natalie's death most likely was the result of foul play, and ruling the death as a homocide is the only way to get the FBI to help, but the M.E. won't budge. Olsen's frustration in the scene was endearing to me.

#2: The last 30-45 minutes, which started just as Olsen and Jeremy Renner's characters (along with other officers) arrived at the fuel company where Matt worked. This was incredibly intense. I was god damn impressed. Things started to get real heavy the instant that cop said "Hey wait a minute, why are you guys flanking me" and nearly everyone pulled out their guns. Thrilling - the scene ended with everyone holstering their weapons, so there was no bloodshed just yet. Was gripping though.

#3: More of a continuation of #2, as it also involves the final part of the movie: Then, another part I loved was Olsen knocking on the cabin door, then the film switching to the flashback scene. I haven't seen a movie do a flashback quite like that before. The uniqueness of the flashback scene (or the way it was woven into the story), coupled with the shockingly brutal, tragic, and incredibly sad content of the flashback - together they put me on the edge of my seat.

Can't stop thinking about the movie.

I'd give it a 10/10. It was a slow burn of a movie, with gripping tension and a great, compelling final act.
 

Montresor

Member
What annoyed me is in my whole province (Ontario, Canada) only one theatre was showing the movie. This is a really really good movie none of my own local theatres nearby are showing it.
 
#3: More of a continuation of #2, as it also involves the final part of the movie: Then, another part I loved was Olsen knocking on the cabin door, then the film switching to the flashback scene. I haven't seen a movie do a flashback quite like that before. The uniqueness of the flashback scene (or the way it was woven into the story), coupled with the shockingly brutal, tragic, and incredibly sad content of the flashback - together they put me on the edge of my seat.
Yeah this movie has been on my mind all week.
Yeah totally loved the flashback sequence I haven't seen something like that either. Pretty much brings the audience to hate the villains and bam the whole theater was cheering everytime Renner smoked one that whole part was just fine amazingly.
 
Just occured to me that Taylor was the sheriff on Sons of Anarchy.

Mind blown.

yeah he hates acting though apparently. he's been doing great work as a screenwriter for his new career tho.

only reason I'm at all interested in this. having Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen as the two leads dulled any excitement for me but I'm gonna end up watching this eventually thanks to Sheridan's work on Sicario and Hell or Hight Water.
 

KidB

Member
What a great film. It deals with its themes very organically and really makes you care about the way these people are treated.
I usually dislike Renner, but he was great in this.
The last 45 minutes were so well made, the only other recent film with such intensity was Sicario.
 

UberTag

Member
Taylor Sheridan is the reason Soldado is pretty much guaranteed not to suck.
But we're still going to hear it's going to suck because of no Villeneuve in just about every thread it comes up.
They're both great talents, folks.
 
I liked it but it was a little cold and depressing to watch.
The plot was fairly straight arrow.
Also the female agent out of her comfort zone thing who feels like she failed, but is saved and reassured by a (broken) man is a bit, hmmm. Might have been more original and interesting if a woman was the local tracker/hunter and he was the FBI agent.
 

whytemyke

Honorary Canadian.
I really liked this movie. Definitely had some Hell or High Water vibes resonating with it.

Renner wasn't really too terrible in this either. I was expecting him to be awful but he delivered just fine.


Really powerful scene nobody has mentioned yet:
That scene where Elizabeth Olson was doubting how much that family cared about their daughters death... and then when the whole world just dropped on her between seeing the mom in the room sobbing and cutting herself when Martin goes outside as Cody gets there and just falls apart on the porch? Just gut wrenching. Scene was really well done.
 
I had noticed a couple previews for this but had no idea it was from the writer of Sicario and Hell or High Water. I'm gonna go check it out this week.
 
So this was really great. One thing I noticed with Sheridan's scripts is that they are all great at placing you in a setting, plots that feel like they couldn't happen anywhere else but these places and with these communities, be it the border, or the struggling Texan outskirts, or here with the bleak, isolated, and forgotten Wyoming wilderness of Wind River

Wind River was a well-crafted balance between painful drama, murder mystery, and thriller, with a pervasive sense of tension and isolation that comes from both the snow-swept setting and the lack of back-up that comes with the nature of the reservation. Much like Sicario, the movie is great at tense build-up leading to explosions of violence, and the violence here feels brutal and chaotic. The emotional weight of loss and grief really anchors and elevates what is a relatively simple story, and in some scenes, the heartbreak feels as raw as the violence does.
 
Wonderful movie with great leads (and supporting actors!) with a strong topical back bone to the story. Renner, as always, really excels when given a script that fits him.

I had to leave the theater for the flashback scene as it was too much for me to handle but I came back in quickly because I felt it was something that needed to be seen.

As much as I enjoyed the movie though it didn't resonate with me quite as much as sicario or hell or high water. I'll have to catch it again to reflect on why that was because as a whole it was as well executed and written as those two. Perhaps the themes just weren't as relevant to my own life.

Either way god damn shame this thread isn't larger because if you like thrillers, strong drama or even action movies then this is probably one you shouldn't miss
 

- J - D -

Member
Really enjoyed it. Found it to be as equally fulfilling as Sheridan's previous efforts. If I had to level one bit of criticism, it'd have to be with Elizabeth Olsen's rookie FBI agent. There's just not really much to her. It's through her eyes that we see the rough winters of Wyoming and the familial dynamics of the WR region's Native American community so in essence she serves as our surrogate. This is fine, but she isn't particularly interesting on her own and what disappoints more is that her interactions with Jeremy Renner's hunter character doesn't really do anything to make her character stronger on her own terms. It's the reverse. Their interactions almost always serve to make Jeremy Renner's hunter character stronger. It informs us of his past traumas, his motivations, his considerable hunting skills. When he is forced to act in the film's climax, it's like a cathartic release because by then you understand and feel for his character so intensely. It's also through him that we feel so deeply for the victims, their families, and the community as a whole.

It's a powerful film and for me it stands equally alongside Sicario and Hell or High Water.

Also, I love how impactful the firefights are in this.
 
The three things I loved the most about the movie (spoilers):

#2: The last 30-45 minutes, which started just as Olsen and Jeremy Renner's characters (along with other officers) arrived at the fuel company where Matt worked. This was incredibly intense. I was god damn impressed. Things started to get real heavy the instant that cop said "Hey wait a minute, why are you guys flanking me" and nearly everyone pulled out their guns. Thrilling - the scene ended with everyone holstering their weapons, so there was no bloodshed just yet. Was gripping though.
Completely agree.
As soon as the deputies start making comments about the security guys, about them being roughed up and whatnot, you realize what the endgame is going to be, the entire final act becomes a ticking bomb, and you're just waiting for it to explode. I kind of wish they didn't have the scene with the chief yelling to Olsen about the door because it kind of makes you expect what's about to happen. Undercuts the explosive release of tension about a second too soon IMO
 

IronRinn

Member
Saw this last night and I really liked it. I forget that Renner can be something other than just the bland roles he's been given lately. (Everyone in it was good, with maybe the exception of the woman who played his ex-wife. She was kind of flat.) I also liked that the movie was uninterested in, I don't know exactly how to put it, I guess the whodunnit of the whodunnit. What I mean is, it's not really concerned so much with indulging your need to figure out the mystery, it is far more concerned about the mystery within the context of how it affects the characters and how the reality they inhabit affects the case.

The last act (the fucking awful, tragic last act) is a masterclass in tension...and catharsis, really.
You know exactly what happened (and will happen) as soon as you see the bruises on the one guy's face. Even before she mentions it. And as Montresor mentioned, the cut to the flashback was really well done.
Crazy that this dude used to play a sheriff on SoA.
 

Babalu.

Member
wow just got back from seeing this movie. It was very very very good. The tension and atmosphere was on point.

have a question though: spoilers

what did the hunter see up there in the lions den that made him rush to contact and start fireing on the security guys. He saw bones or something up by the lions den and immedately tries to contact them like he just figured things out. Was it more human bones?
 
wow just got back from seeing this movie. It was very very very good. The tension and atmosphere was on point.

have a question though: spoilers

what did the hunter see up there in the lions den that made him rush to contact and start fireing on the security guys. He saw bones or something up by the lions den and immedately tries to contact them like he just figured things out. Was it more human bones?
Looked like a human rib cage/skeleton, near a trail leading back over the ridge. I took that to imply they've killed other women (or at least one other) and leave their bodies by the lion den to be devoured. He saw the trail leading over the ridge and towards the drill camp
 

FTF

Member
Excellent movie and one of my favs of the year. Atmosphere and tension were great.

Looked like a human rib cage/skeleton, near a trail leading back over the ridge. I took that to imply they've killed other women (or at least one other) and leave their bodies by the lion den to be devoured. He saw the trail leading over the ridge and towards the drill camp

I assumed that's where they took Jon Bernthal's character Matt's body after killing him...or did they not kill him :/ it's been a few weeks since I've seen it
 

BlueTsunami

there is joy in sucking dick
Not trying to write a whole synopsis on this but I really liked Jeremy Renner here. Not only him, as an actor but the character he portrayed. Quiet, stoic. Hell yes.
 

GhaleonEB

Member
I'm planning to see this, knowing quite literally nothing about it and having seen no footage, on the basis of the people that are in and who made it. The variable is whether I bring my wife.

How brutal/bloody is the violence? She has a relatively low tolerance.
 
Excellent movie and one of my favs of the year. Atmosphere and tension were great.



I assumed that's where they took Jon Bernthal's character Matt's body after killing him...or did they not kill him :/ it's been a few weeks since I've seen it
Matt was the body that Renner and Olsen found in the woods.
 
I'm planning to see this, knowing quite literally nothing about it and having seen no footage, on the basis of the people that are in and who made it. The variable is whether I bring my wife.

How brutal/bloody is the violence? She has a relatively low tolerance.
Think No Country or Sicario. Realistic and sudden but not gratuitous.
 

HotHamBoy

Member
I saw it last week. Great movie. Small scope, tight film with great cinematography. Haunting music, great performances. Strong script, too.

I'm planning to see this, knowing quite literally nothing about it and having seen no footage, on the basis of the people that are in and who made it. The variable is whether I bring my wife.

How brutal/bloody is the violence? She has a relatively low tolerance.

I'd take her.
 

GhaleonEB

Member
I went solo, since I've misjudged some films recently. I think she'd have been okay with most of the violence, except for the
rape scene.
I'll ask her about it tomorrow, because I'm okay seeing it a second time.

Jeremy Renner is quietly racking up some really understated but rather brilliant performances. There's a scene early in this film where he and another father are talking on a porch. They've both lost their daughters. It's one of the best acted scenes - from them both - that I've ever seen. Their grief is palpable, heartbreaking and so real that I was nearly in tears. It didn't help that my older daughter is named Natalie. Renner should be up for an Oscar for this.

My only quibble - and this isn't really a spoiler, but I'll tag it anyways -
is how the lead's ex-wife and his son both vanish in the middle of the second act and never return. They didn't affect the plot but it felt odd to establish early on that the son was expecting to spend the day with his dad, and then we never see him again.

Olsen gave a wonderful performance as well, as someone deeply out of her element, but smart enough to know it. Great chemistry with Renner.

Great film, the most finely crafted I've seen this year. Strongly recommended.
 

Aselith

Member
I really enjoyed the movie but the bookend text was very weird. Like it really had nothing to do with the content of the movie.

I haven't liked any Renner performances since like The Hurt Locker and this was a return to form. Olsen was really great as always.
 
Great film, the most finely crafted I've seen this year. Strongly recommended.
I'm still thinking about the movie days later. I might even go see it again and I rarely do that

The scene that really hit me was
the one before that, seeing the mother and then the father's heartwrenching wailing. My mom lost her father two years ago, and I remember her crying like that, that raw struggling-to-stand wailing, so clearly in my head.
 
I really enjoyed the movie but the bookend text was very weird. Like it really had nothing to do with the content of the movie.
It was related to the lack of federal help and resources given to reservations, which was a pretty key part of the plot, both for the investigation and the state of poverty
 
Saw the film yesterday. Loved it, much like I loved Sicario a couple years ago. Sheridan's definitely shaping up to be a strong director in his own right here.

Now all I need to do is go back and watch Hell or High Water to complete the Sheridan Thriller trilogy.
 

kirblar

Member
It was good, but not great. Definitely worth seeing though. I had a few quibbles with the direction, because I couldn't figure out what Renner's character was supposed to be doing off on his own in the scenes before the endgame.
Was he taking time off to go kill the lions? Covering the escape path? It really wasn't clear for me. Also, felt the staging of the final chaotic gunfight was not as chaotic as it needed to be given the context of the scene?

Kinda felt like this was a script that was written before Sicario struck it big.
 
Really good movie - one I'd normally wait to see until it was on BluRay, but MoviePass makes this kind of stuff a no-brainer. Renner and Olsen were great, and the conclusion was satisfying.

edit: ^^
he was off doing his original job, which was hunting the lions. But then he saw tracks leading up the mountain toward him from the camp and realized they had done something with the BF's body.
 

Montresor

Member
Just thinking about this movie again right now, and man, I have a couple of buddies that have never seen:

Sicario (written by Taylor Sheridan)
Hell or High Water (written by Taylor Sheridan)
Wind River (written and directed by Taylor Sheridan)

And I want to hear what they think after watching all three movies.

I already want to know what Taylor Sheridan's next movie is going to be.
 
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