Review of Wind River (2017) by George F — 19 Aug 2017

A hauntingly beautiful film set in the wild's of Wyoming. After the brutal rape and killing of a young girl named Natalie (Kelsey Asbille). The FBI sends a young agent named Jane Banner (Elizabeth Olsen) to investigate the murder since it was done on Native American grounds.

Along with a Fish and Game Tracker named Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner) {who discovered the body and has a dark past of his own} and the local sheriff Ben (Graham Greene) the trio sets off to find the killer.

What they find indeed brings them down a dark path that shows how little support the Native American's of Wyoming get, but the journey also brings about understanding to Jane about the truth of the whole situation.

The movie is shot beautifully. It has a very somber tone to the entire film, but there's still a beauty in seeing the snowy peaks that dot the land. The two leads in Olsen and Renner are really great.

Renner easily steals the show because his back story is very tragic and you really feel for the guy. There's a lot of brutal moments in this film, but director Taylor Sheridan does a great job using violence in ways to keep the plot moving.

Sheridan was the writer for Sicario (2015) and Hell or High Water (2016), so if you enjoyed that those films you'll especially enjoy this one. The film does start out a bit slow and truthfully is a bit of a slow burn for the most of the film, but it has some good payoffs.

One gripe I'll say is I wish they had developed Olsens character Banner just a bit more. We don't get too much of an insight on her background at all and kind of just assume she's a young agent that has a chip on her shoulder and is staying behind to do the right thing.

Regardless it's a solid mystery film and I really enjoyed this one.