Review of Wind River (2017) by Meritcoba — 04 Jun 2020

I found Wind River well done thriller with some nice acting, visuals and emotional moments. It has a slow start followed by an engaging middle part but it definitely drops the ball at the end. I liked Elizabeth Olsen as the out of her depth FBI officer who does her best. Jeremy Renner is also good but seems to lack screen presence. The rest of the cast give a good performance. Overall a decent movie with a good cast but marred by a poor ending and script that doesn't always work well.

I will only make a few observations about the weak parts of the movie.

Jeremy Renner?

Given that the movie is set in an Indian Reservation I found it curious that this role was not given to a native or that there is hardly anything done with the fact that Renner is a white man living among Indians. Specifically because an important theme throughout the movie is that life in an Indian reservation is hard and the natives are treated as second rank citizens. It is one time alluded to that Renner isn't one of them, but most of the movie sees him treated as one of them. In addition Renner is actually a hunter of dangerous wildlife. It almost feels like this should have been played by native but that the studio probably didn't have the balls to cast one as the lead.

Renner's additional problem is that he seems to have a weak screen presence in this movie and he is at his best alone. Perhaps this is actually well played. The problems it that the moment someone else steps into the frame the camera seems to turn away from him, like happens with Graham Greene(the chief of police), Olsen and even his ex wife played by Julia Jones. I am still not certain if that is well done or just his issue.

Those infernal pumas.

An important part in the movies is played by the elusive pumas. It is searching for them that makes Renner find the first body and lateron he finds via them an important clue about the murder. The confrontation between Renner and the pumas seems inevitable, and I was expecting that this would lead to some kind of payoff near the end. However, nothing is done. In fact it isn't even shown that he kills these predators in the end after he has found them, which feels like someone didn't had the nerve to have them killed and not even have it suggested by having some shots fired?

Dropping the ball...

This movie is a thriller set in a cold landscape giving you this eerie forlorn feel sometimes changed into beautiful visuals. This contradiction of the deadly blizzards and stunning beautiful landscapes is an important aspect of the movie. It is mirrored in the movie for the people: Renner's happy family before his daughter was killed and his breakup with his wife after. Much of this is alluded to(and might have been even more profound with a better director and script).

..then the end happens. The end is a sudden change of pace. Perhaps because this contrasts with the first three quarters of the movie just like a blizzard follows a beautiful wintry landscape. However it feels like they suddenly decided to take a sharp turn and step into another genre. I leave it at this, as to not spoil your fun, but I felt that the ending was not well executed, especially because they just show you what happened scene by scene during the murder. It spoils the thriller/mystery aspect.