Wind River (2017)

[baumer]

Discuss

[aabattery]

Jon Bernthal keeps sneaking up on me. This is like the third time he's randomly popped up in a movie for a tiny role.

 

Good stuff though. That third act was really satisfying. 

[afalconer7]

I believe this movie is a directorial debut for Taylor Sheridan and he made a damn great movie. The acting is great, and it is very well directed, suspensful and layered, and has great cinematography. Despite some familiar tropes here and there, this is a very effective thriller and one of the best movies I've seen all year so far. 9/10.

 

[La Binoche]

Solid directorial debut. The kind of story that's told as a crime miniseries on HBO or Netflix nowadays, rarely as a feature. Not perfect but worth seeing and supporting so we can get stories like this back on the big screen. B+

[4815162342]

On 8/3/2017 at 6:01 PM, aabattery said:

Jon Bernthal keeps sneaking up on me. This is like the third time he's randomly popped up in a movie for a tiny role.

 

Good stuff though. That third act was really satisfying. 

 

The showdown kinda sneaks up on you. You're thinking "okay we're going to get a couple clues and that'll lead us towards the endgame" and the suddenly it's "oh shit I guess it is Mexican standoff time"

[aabattery]

28 minutes ago, 4815162342 said:

 

The showdown kinda sneaks up on you. You're thinking "okay we're going to get a couple clues and that'll lead us towards the endgame" and the suddenly it's "oh shit I guess it is Mexican standoff time"

 

Yeah. You could feel that something was coming but I did not expect such a balls-to-the-wall showdown.

 

A guy in my audience cheered when Hawkeye started shooting up the place.

[MrPink]

I thought Jon Bernthal was gonna be a scum bag as per usual and it turns out nope, it's the skeevy dude that's immediately obvious as soon as he walks in along with his friends.

 

The only way that shoot out could have been better is if FARRIER (aka Hardy) appeared out of nowhere with a Spitfire and gunned down a couple.

Edited August 19, 2017 by MrPink

[Kvikk Lunsj]

Visually beautiful and a good first two actor but a bad third act

2.5/5

[Cmasterclay]

I liked this alot! It has the typical Sheridan problem of "characters going into extremely meaty existential monologues about society and life" that are wildly out of place, but those are also awesome for giving the actors so much to chew on. And they do great - cast is terrific, with Renner and Olsen both doing their best work in years after being trapped in the shitty franchise machines.. It looks beautiful, it's very well paced, and the emotion sneaks up on you. And that third act standoff was a shock - I could tell it was those guys from the second they popped up, but I didn't expect shit to pop off so quickly. I thought they would find some clues. The pacing of the movie helps there - the third act actions starts when alot of these kind of movies are just getting going. 

 

I do think it was kinda weird to have this specific story and commentary through two white characters. I get it with Olsen for sure, but Renner's character could have just as easily been a Native American with a few tiny writing tweaks and not changed much at all in terms of his role, while keeping the commentary. But it wasn't anything intensely problematic, and the movie is respectful to a fault.

[filmlover]

Taylor Sheridan definitely has a unique voice that you can hear in his work. It's evident in Sicario. It's evident in Hell or High Water. And it's definitely evident in Wind River. Like his previous scripts, this is a slow-burner thriller that pays particular attention to its characters. Terrific performances from Jeremy Renner (who gives career best work here IMO) and Elizabeth Olsen and beautiful cinematography also add to the experience. B+

[4815162342]

On 8/19/2017 at 6:32 PM, Cmasterclay said:

I liked this alot! It has the typical Sheridan problem of "characters going into extremely meaty existential monologues about society and life" that are wildly out of place, but those are also awesome for giving the actors so much to chew on. And they do great - cast is terrific, with Renner and Olsen both doing their best work in years after being trapped in the shitty franchise machines.. It looks beautiful, it's very well paced, and the emotion sneaks up on you. And that third act standoff was a shock - I could tell it was those guys from the second they popped up, but I didn't expect shit to pop off so quickly. I thought they would find some clues. The pacing of the movie helps there - the third act actions starts when alot of these kind of movies are just getting going. 

 

I do think it was kinda weird to have this specific story and commentary through two white characters. I get it with Olsen for sure, but Renner's character could have just as easily been a Native American with a few tiny writing tweaks and not changed much at all in terms of his role, while keeping the commentary. But it wasn't anything intensely problematic, and the movie is respectful to a fault.

I was a bit surprised we didn't get a more central NA perspective.

[baumer]

Might be my second favourite film of the year after Okja.  I was engrossed with it from the start and besides the direction and writing from Sheridan, which is top notch, the part that drew me in was the performance first by Renner and then by Olsen.  Renner is the guy who is damaged, angry, not to be trifled with and is one step or maybe two ahead of everyone else.  He's also the only one who keeps his head on straight throughout the whole film.  This is the kind of movie that slow burns and it's terrific because of it.  When we got the Mexican standoff, it literally made me gasp.  I was not expecting the shootout.  And I too felt like cheering when Renner starts blowing everyone away.  

 

The retribution he gets and the comeuppance he dishes out to the asshole left, was perfect.  He was calm but angry, focused yet on the edge.  And his final speech to Olsen about how she's strong for surviving was excellent.

 

We need more movies like this and I hope Bob and Harvey get this wide ASAP.

 

9.5/10 

[filmlover]

Renner really is excellent in this. Shame that he's likely not gonna gain any awards traction.

 

By the way, my audience got a really big laugh out of whenever Olsen said she was not used to the snowy Wyoming conditions because she was from Ft. Lauderdale. 

[baumer]

The stuff riding up your butt comment got a good laugh at my showing.

[Fancyarcher]

My review of Wind River.

 

https://dailyuv.com/news/919446

 

In short I really liked it. Nice atmosphere & Renner is really good too.

[Ezen Baklattan]

I wasn't completely enamored with it, and it never felt super compelling or exciting until the final act, but it's pretty well done. (And pretty! The cinematography is great) I liked that it dived into the Native American cultural aspects and was pretty respectful (Though I agree with @Cmasterclay's idea that Renner's character should have been played by a NA actor - Renner was still good, though), but it felt a bit derivative from a lot of past dramas of the same caliber. Don't get me wrong, it's a good thing to imitate, and it's a damn well made film, but it kind of loses a bit of edge in that. I did still like it a good bit overall, but I'm not sure it'll still be on my mind come December.

 

Side note, I hoped that when Pete was heading to the mountains to find Renner, I secretly hoped he would be simply mauled to death by the cougars (???) they showed right before the standoff on the mountains. The final scene with them was great, but that would have made for a really fun and poetically just Chekov's gun moment.

 

[4815162342]

I did half-expect the mountain lions to attack the scuzzbucket when he fled into the hills

[Ozymandias]

Disappointing and thoroughly generic murder mystery thriller.  I thought this movie was gonna have some nice surprises or twists but nope, the killer is just some random guy that got bored of snow and silence and decided to rape his friend's girl after some drinks one night.   Nothing at all stands out about it except the pretty location that its set in.  It didn't feel like this movie was about anything at all either unlike Sicario or Hell or High Water which were some of the best movies I've seen in recent years.   I chuckled at the forced text that popped at the end because never once did it feel like this movie was specifically saying anything about the disappearance of Native American Women.  I'm definitely still keep an eye on Taylor Sheridan though.

 

C

[Water Bottle]

On 8/19/2017 at 3:32 PM, Cmasterclay said:

I do think it was kinda weird to have this specific story and commentary through two white characters. I get it with Olsen for sure, but Renner's character could have just as easily been a Native American with a few tiny writing tweaks and not changed much at all in terms of his role, while keeping the commentary. But it wasn't anything intensely problematic, and the movie is respectful to a fault.

 

On 8/21/2017 at 0:28 PM, 4815162342 said:

I was a bit surprised we didn't get a more central NA perspective.

 

Sheridan didn't think that he as a white person should write from the NA perspective. Agree or disagree, he didn't want to speak for the NA experience when he hasn't experienced it himself.

[4815162342]

Fair enough