Movie Review At Home Edition: Those Who Wish Me Dead
As much as I miss going to the movies, I’m still nervous about doing so, so I look forward
to these theatrical home releases. From the trailer, “Those Who Wish Me Dead” looks
like a couple of hours of heart pounding entertainment. Upon viewing, not so much. TWWMD clocks in at a mere hour forty minutes, however more than half of that is a
vague, drawn out, dull setup for the second half of the film.
Not having seen the book this is based on, here’s what I got out of this mess:
Some guy (a forensic accountant) discovered some damning information about someone/something that he reports to authorities. The someone/something wants
to quash the damning info, so that someone/something hires some other mysterious suited guy who sends a couple of hitmen to retrieve the damning info and kill everyone
that may have seen it. Accountant guy gets spooked and runs with his kid before the hitmen can get to him. Not trusting the authorities and wanting to get his story/info to
the media, naturally accountant guy flees to a heavily forested state park where his law enforcement buddy works, thereby putting law enforcement buddy and his pregnant wife
in danger.
Got it? No? Me neither. But wait, there's more!
Angelina Jolie happens to be the smoke jumper, ex girlfriend of law enforcement buddy. She's suffering from severe PTSD, which caused her to fail a psych eval, but is still
working. Isolated in a watchtower in the middle of BFE, no problems there.
Seriously, wtf?!
After that nonsensical mess, the film starts and actually becomes interesting. There
are some good action sequences, a handful of good character moments, but it’s all
too little too late. Nothing is ever explained and there are too many unanswered
questions. *SPOILER* What happened to the horse?
“Those Who Wish Me Dead” is more a first draft of a film that never amounts to more
than squandered potential. Nothing more than background noise while you do
something else. I’m renaming this Those Who Wish For Better and giving this
clunker a 2.
