Review of Those Who Wish Me Dead (2021) by Kenr — 07 Mar 2022

Those Who Wish Me Dead – Wish there was More.

This interesting story gets a halfway interesting script. For something with several writers, it should have been far better, or were we simply seeing some attempts to re-write the weaker elements with more impact? Whatever, this could have been a gut-wrenching survival epic if it was marketed towards a wider audience. Who was it intended for? We have a 12/13yr old boy placed in a shockingly deadly situation, who witnesses an unspeakable murder but his scenes are surrounded by a bunch of boozy, swear fest, dim-witted, potty-mouthed firefighters, who speak and act more like brain dead morons from another planet – why were so many needless scenes included with this uninteresting lot? Has Hollywood completely been taken over by movie makers that have so little idea what makes audiences react? (IE; a 12 or 13yr old with a major role in a show that’s rightly, not recommended for anyone under 17. ).

Much excitement is included with a pair of super deadly hitmen being sent to take out some honest citizens - exposing some nasty graft and corruption in high places. There are some genuinely interesting characters along the way such as the Survival Camp couple but these are smothered by unnecessary over the top situations - that simply end by getting in the way of the overall impact. Then the super-smart assassins eventually end up making some super-dumb decisions which also weakens the outcome. Angelina Jolie, the writers, and director seem to have been trying to appeal to the mindless juvenile action audience as some of her character's motivations and dialog, were particularly poorly written and suspect. For a woman who claims to have the health and safety of children as her first and foremost aim, much of this looked perhaps hypocritical. Finn Little playing the young boy, out-classes most all others in this effort. Great Montana location cinematography helps (second unit or stand-in?) but the story could have been terrific if toned down and treated with more descent believability.