Wind River (2017)

[Frayed Knot]

The body of a teenage girl found in the snow on the 'Wind River' Arapaho Reservation in Wyoming sets off an investigation where several governmental departments -- BIA, FBI, local -- wrangle with
each other and with a private security force connected to a nearby power plant over jurisdictional issues. And of course the White vs Red and on vs off the 'Rez' conflicts weave their way throughout.

Both written and directed by Taylor Sheridan. He was the writer for 2016's Texas Rangers vs bank robbers flick 'Hell or High Water' and also 2015's DEA vs drug smugglers tale 'Sicario'.
If I didn't know better I might think he has a renegade outlaw vs lawman (and sometimes renegade lawman) thing going on.

Jeremy Renner plays the Fish and Wildlife Bureau hunter/tracker who finds the body and has personal reasons for finding the backstory to the crime;
Elizabeth Olsen the fish out of water FBI agent who's flown in for the assignment; Gil Birmingham, who played Jeff Bridges's half-indian partner in HoHW, here portrays the victim's grieving father.



"Luck don't live out here"

Edited November 18, 2017 by Guest

[Edgy MD]

Maybe the last-ever Harvey Weinstein film, although I imagine there are couple in the can or in post-production.

[Vic Sage]

Just watched it -- a good but not great film. HELL OR HIGH WATER is tons better, but i thought SICARIO was overrated, despite great performances.

Renner and Olsen have good rapport, as they did in AVENGERS:ULTRON (and with a flashback featuring from Jon Bernthal (the Punisher), the movie is a superhero bonanza). And the icy remoteness of the locations is captured well by the shooting style, giving the film an interesting tone of quiet melancholy. But the murder mystery is not very mysterious and the script's treatment of the plight of Native Americans is heavy-handed, preachy and obvious. Still, some moving moments and the final shootout is pretty intense.

[Frayed Knot]

Definitely HoHW > WR > Sicario, although HoHW might be my favorite movie of the last coupla years and I'd still put a bigger gap between #2 & #3 than between #1 & #2

Wasn't aware of the previous actors' connections as the superhero flicks aren't in my wheelhouse

And, yeah, it got a bit preachy towards the end. Sheridan seems to be saying; 'Watch me care'. Don't know if he himself has native ancestry, but that seems to be his pet project these days.