Writer and director Tyler Sheridan has made a name for himself in telling tense cinematic stories of decent people caught in the line of fire: stuff like Sicario, Hell or High Water and Wind River.
Now, that line of fire is more blazingly literal than ever, with the release of Those Who Wish Me Dead. Directed and adapted by Sheridan from Michael Koryta’s bestselling novel, this thriller is currently screening in cinemas around Australia.
Angelina Jolie stars as an embittered specialist firefighter, called into action when a teenage murder witness is found struggling through the forest alone. Played by Australian actor Finn Little, the boy is on the run from a pair of sinister assassins (Aidan Gillen and Nicholas Hoult) because of his father’s access to incriminating evidence of political corruption.
Both haunted by loss and guilt, Jolie and Little must avoid not only the hitmen’s bullets but also a consuming forest fire, that threatens to turn everyone’s petty interpersonal problems to ash. Check out the suspenseful trailer below, although I’m sure all that heat looks way better when emblazoned onto a big cinema screen.
Those Who Wish Me Dead is screening in theatres around Australia, and has already received solid reviews from outlets such as The Guardian, where it was compared to No Country For Old Men as “a fierce, muscular piece of work”.
Find session times below for Those Who Wish Me Dead if you’re after something a little bit western, a little bit old-school man vs. nature survival thriller, and a little bit ‘unlikely pair that has a heartwarming forged-in-flames maternal relationship’. Aw.
