‘Those Who Wish Me Dead’ Review

There appears to be an emerging sub-genre in action films where our traumatized lead character learns to grow by bonding with a kid who they are forced to protect. We just saw this type of movie in January with The Marksman starring Liam Neeson. In Those Who Wish Me Dead, Angelina Jolie stars in this type of film that has entertaining moments, but is about as generic as it gets. 

Premise

Hannah Faber (Jolie) is a firefighter who is coming off of a mission where she failed to save three young boys. After being assigned to a tower for the summer, she comes across Connor (Finn Little), who’s being hunted after his father was killed by two assassins. The assassins are killing anyone who gets in their way as they’re getting rid of anyone who’s aware of confidential information. Jolie decides to do whatever it takes to protect Connor while dealing with both the assassins and the dangers that mother nature brings. 

Review

The main big name attached to this film is Jolie, who delivers on a good performance. She does a great job at playing a reckless character whose behavior is a clear attempt to ignore the trauma she faces from her last mission. While her past never truly coalesces into a meaningful arc, we do get a good sense of who she is just from Jolie’s performance. 

Little is as good as Connor, which is needed because a bad kid performance could throw the entire movie off. The two assassins are played by Nicholas Hoult and Aiden Gillan who are both fine in their roles but have almost no character besides “bad guy.” They have no clear motives, except for the fact that they work for some other main antagonist who we only meet for one scene. 

Additional cast includes Jon Bernthal who is here to do his typical shtick where he plays a tough, no-nonsense character. He’s good in the role, but it’s nothing different from what we’ve seen from him. His wife in the film is played by Medina Senghore, who does a lot with the limited time she’s given. She and Bernthal have good chemistry when they do have a chance to share the screen. 

Jolie also has a small crew of firefighter friends who we meet at the beginning of the film. It’s too bad that is basically the only time we get with them because the crew has a strong dynamic that would’ve made for a far more entertaining movie. I would’ve liked to know more about their characters and backgrounds. 

Where the film is lacking is in its narrative. There isn’t much we know about why Connor is on the run. His dad is a forensic scientist who supposedly found something he shouldn’t have, but we are never told what that is. This makes it hard to be invested in the story as there is no indication of how high the stakes are. I didn’t want Connor to die, but I never knew how important the information was that Connor had. 

The film is directed by Taylor Sheridan, who directed a similar film to this in Wind River. However, Wind River is far superior. Sheridan doesn’t do a bad job directing this movie, just nothing truly remarkable. Sheridan should’ve also penned the script because Sheridan has written many remarkable screenplays. 

There are also some moments of bad CGI. When there are wide shots of the tower Jolie is situated in, there’s some bad green screen which is really noticeable. I usually don’t notice things like that, so when it’s that bad, I have to point it out. 

Final verdict

Those Who Wish Me Dead is a completely average action thriller. I’m not going to remember it in the long run, but I don’t regret watching it. Since it’s on HBO Max, you can put it on and be solidly entertained for 90 minutes. If I had gone to a theater to watch this, I would’ve been disappointed. 

Final score: 3/5