My response would be, in regards to the movie, (not you personally) that when you can in no way care for cartoonish, stereotyped, absurd characters, who cares, who can can what happens next? A shallow, silly, mess of a movie.
Wind River (Trailer)(Directorial debut from Taylor Sheridan, Writer of Sicario & Hell or High Water)
- Thread starter FlyRy
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NobodyReally
Superstar
It was OK. I think my problem with this film is probably not going to be everyone else's problem. I think aside from my issues, which I'll get into later, it was worth the price of admission. The acting was good, the cinematography was good, and the music was very interesting, probably more than some of the dialogue. Which leads to one of my problems with this movie. There's a lot of muttering. I wish they would turn the subtitles on, because I feel like I missed some things because people don't enuciate. And that's real life people don't speak clearly, but if you're gonna have characters mumbling and muttering, use subtitles. Also, my primary problem with this film is the two white protagonists in a story about Native Americans, their problems, and this major issue the film tries to raise awareness about. The Native American women in this film are talked about and seen, but we don't get to know them. They're props for the story and all the character development is centered on the two white folks in the movie. I'm really getting tired of that schtick. If you're going to try and pretend you care about Native Americans (or any other race/ethnicity) is it too much to ask to make one of the protagonists someone from that community? Can we get to know people the story is actually about? It'd be something else if this was an isolated incident, but Hollywood keeps doing it. In a way, it's ironic as fukk that the movie talks about how no one is checking for Native American women or whether they go missing and then the film commits the same crime - symbolically.
But yeah, outside of that, I was entertained. When things hit the fan, it was exciting, and they did a good job with really making the setting of rural Wyoming come to life. They just forgot to do that to the people who live in it.
6 out of 10
Oh and can someone tell me
But yeah, outside of that, I was entertained. When things hit the fan, it was exciting, and they did a good job with really making the setting of rural Wyoming come to life. They just forgot to do that to the people who live in it.
6 out of 10
Oh and can someone tell me
was it ever confirmed the second body belonged to the boyfriend? I thought it was inferred but we never got any confirmation
I was all in on this movie for about the first 70 minutes.
But when the movie is making blunt points about the hopelessness of reservation life and the lack of support and empathy from the outside world...and then the movie fails to show an ounce of emotion for the massacres tribal police force...while returning to the plight of the two white characters...
...it made me feel, not good.
But when the movie is making blunt points about the hopelessness of reservation life and the lack of support and empathy from the outside world...and then the movie fails to show an ounce of emotion for the massacres tribal police force...while returning to the plight of the two white characters...
...it made me feel, not good.
That was one long screening
Yep. Super tired now. Wasn't until the 15th time through that I really caught on to what Sheridan was doing
I see that point @HHR, like I was referencing, I am close to Native families, so I have a personal take on the material but, beyond that I am to sensitive to their roles in movies, and I am really aware that Renner and Olsen's characters could have been Native and the story doesn't miss anything. I think that's an issue of financing and marketing, honestly. As it is, this movie will be small, and minor successful, with no Renner or Olsen attached, it probably doesn't make it past the festival circuit, or even on there.
Regarding the handling of the massacre, I hadn't considered that, I gave such weight to the violence against women, thinking of Native women I know, and ones I don't, that I kind of "forgot" the half dozen men who died in the show. I think that's a fair point. I also think there were flaws in the last scenes, meaning the ones on the mountain. Too Hollywood. On the other hand, the violence and casual savagery of those mountains, and kind of frontier violence is in line with that.
It's a deeply flawed movie, that a less director would have ruined, but I think the sum outweighs the parts I took issue with.
Not to mention, Olsen, an FBI agent fumbling around like a teenage Nancy Drew, if you ever met a woman in fairly high spot in the judicial branch of government, you know how off base Olsen's agent was.
Regarding the handling of the massacre, I hadn't considered that, I gave such weight to the violence against women, thinking of Native women I know, and ones I don't, that I kind of "forgot" the half dozen men who died in the show. I think that's a fair point. I also think there were flaws in the last scenes, meaning the ones on the mountain. Too Hollywood. On the other hand, the violence and casual savagery of those mountains, and kind of frontier violence is in line with that.
It's a deeply flawed movie, that a less director would have ruined, but I think the sum outweighs the parts I took issue with.
Not to mention, Olsen, an FBI agent fumbling around like a teenage Nancy Drew, if you ever met a woman in fairly high spot in the judicial branch of government, you know how off base Olsen's agent was.
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I think Olsen was supposed to a new, lower level fed. She Makes mention that she's the one they send in before the investigative unit. The problem is that after that they didn't really explain her backstory enough to capitalize on that. Their team could've used another character, like a capable but overlooked Native female agent/officer to exemplify that idea of toughness that Olsen's character didn't quite earn.
For sure, but even someone just out of Quantico isn't going to be stumbling around like that, just the way she carried herself, wasn't like a law enforcement professional from state or federal branch.
NobodyReally
Superstar
I feel like this particular director has done this before (Sicario) and maybe thinks it makes the law enforcement angle more sympathetic to use a beautiful but naive and fumbling white woman in place of a more competent agent. Didn't work for me either.
Definitely, I don't want to accuse Sheridan of misogyny or sexism, but yeah, it was pretty apparent in "Sicario" too, as a narrative device, and I don't really think it worked there either.
A Phoenix Kidnapping Task Force member whe has NO knowledge of drug cartels? None? All the kidnappings in Phoenix are drug related. That's absurd.
It's clumsy, and came close to taking me out of the story in "Wind River".
A Phoenix Kidnapping Task Force member whe has NO knowledge of drug cartels? None? All the kidnappings in Phoenix are drug related. That's absurd.
It's clumsy, and came close to taking me out of the story in "Wind River".
Saw this over the weekend and I thought it was really good. My perspective might be a little different since I've been through Wyoming quite a few times and seen some of the reservations between there and Montana.
The film did a good job capturing the hopelessness/emptiness that some reservations have. They are depressing to see in person.
Wyoming's isolation and desolation in general came through too. You do not feel connected to the rest of the country while you are in that state. To be Native on top of that...I can't even imagine.
The film did a good job capturing the hopelessness/emptiness that some reservations have. They are depressing to see in person.
The way the movie glossed over and "forgot" about the people who died in the shootout at the end...that's how it feels in real life with whatever happens there. I felt that was intentional for a reason. Natives have been marginalized and ignored in this country.
Wyoming's isolation and desolation in general came through too. You do not feel connected to the rest of the country while you are in that state. To be Native on top of that...I can't even imagine.
TheGodling
Los Ingobernables de Sala de Cine
@ that contrived Hollywood-esque nonsense. And they did have a character to exemplify that. It was Nathalie, the victim who ran 10 miles through the cold. That's why Jane broke out in tears in the hospital when she asked Cory about that. She knew that she didn't have the ability to survive on her own there. She was the sheep from the opening scene, relying on the hunter (Cory) to save her from the wolves. And I thought Sheridan made it very clear she was a low-level rookie and completely out of depth without doing a forced 'I only completed training six months ago' type line of dialogue. This is why so many movies suck these days because you want those obligatory lines to state something that is completely clear through context.Hell, if that point wasn't made clear as day midway through the movie, it was dead obvious during the big stand-off between the police and the security forces.
The fact some of you guys didn't pick up on this is just disgusting to me. The goddamn "redshirts" of the police force had a better idea of the situation at hand and that says it all. They saw the security guys were trapping them in and she had no clue because she has no experience. You guys complain that the movie focused on two white characters in the center but one was deeply embedded into the community, and the other was presented as completely clueless and had every single native looking at her like
I do think they could've made Cory's character a native, but Hollywood ain't selling a movie off a native American lead, that's just cold hard truth and Sheridan worked around it as much as possible.
Moving on from that discussion to the actual movie, I have it just a bit below Hell Or High Water although I felt the same about it starting off pretty damn good, then turning pretty fukking great in the third act. Because yes, it was on the nose, but that's why the flashback works so well because it's not supposed to be a twist, it's a development where you go, oh, these must be the guys that did it, and then Sheridan does the right thing by showing us that we're right and moving it along instead of trying to pretend for another five minutes that they're not. I'm not trying to shyt on you guys too hard but to me this was a screenwriting masterclass. You can say it has its few rough edges and you wouldn't be lying, but Sheridan captures the essence of storytelling far better than most screenwriters today.
TheGodling
Los Ingobernables de Sala de Cine
And drive the entire narrative of the movie, but let's look past that.
Side-note: I do wonder how long it will take for the SJW's to call Taylor Sheridan misogynistic (and/or repeating himself). From Emily Blunt in Sicario to Olsen in this you got two police women being completely out of a clue and carried/maninpulated by the men, and just like in Hell Or High Water the main character's ex-wife is a stubborn stuck-up bytch who won't give her man a break.
