136.
Wind River
8/10
Screen Unseen with Odeon was back and this time it was the true story
of what it is like on a Native American reservation. I really didn't know too much about this movie, mainly because I didn't know which movie was going to be chosen for us to watch. With two main cast figures of Jeremy Renner, who I enjoyed away from Marvel in Hurt Locker and also another Marvel head in Elisabeth Olsen, this could keep the story intimate and easy to follow. Being based around real events is yet again a plus point for me because it gives me some incentive to find further information on the events surrounding the stories.
The storyline is a simple, yet effective and easy to follow one, that keeps us gripped from the very beginning. With the opening scene of a young girl running through the snow. With the camera showing that she has no shoes on, she's looking back over her shoulder and crying, we don't take long to realise that she is the victim. The next scene also wants us to learn something. Renner's character is a marksman with his sniper, taking out wolves to protect someone's sheep. We delve into this man's life as he goes to his ex-wife's to pick up his son and we can see that he lost his daughter at a young age. He finds the body of the woman at the beginning and we know that he will be emotionally involved due to his own circumstances. When the police are notified, we can see what kind of points this film is trying to make. They have no resources or men in order to patrol this huge area of the reservation. An FBI agent is called in, played by Elizabeth Olson. She plays Jane, who seems out of her depth at first and the case takes a turn as, although this girl was raped by an unknown amount of people, she died through the cold in her lungs. Because of this, is cannot be listed as a homicide, even though everyone knows it should be.
The movie turns on to a bit more action, as the FBI agent and Tribal police chief, head to a drug den to find some answers. They are fired upon by some nervy, drug taking men, who include the victim's brother. Some are gunned down but others and the brother are questioned to a point that they reveal she had a boyfriend called Matt, who was a security guard at the local oil drilling camp. Corey, Renner's character, has been asked to help, they need all hands-on deck. He already promised they victim's father that he will bring the killer or killers to justice. The mother is seen cutting herself in her bedroom as the father is clearly losing his will to live. Corey sees things that others don't, including snowmobile tracks, leading off to the distance. Following them, they find the body of Matt, the boyfriend and this is one suspect ticked off the list but another added to the homicide one. Everyone, except Corey, make their way to the drill camp in order to investigate Matt's place and his friends. Corey heads back up to where they found Matt's body and find further clues. The gang are greeted by security at the camp and a few have cuts, and black eyes. Quickly, they are caught out when they mention that they heard Natalie's body announcement being discussed across the radio. Jane knows that she never mentioned the girl's name at all and knows something is up. One of the officers notices that guards from the camp have their guns out and are flanking the group. Suddenly, a standoff begins and Jane take control of the situation, calming everything down before turning the handle of the door of the trailer that Matt used to stay at. She finds it locked but knocks.
At this time, the scene sends us to a flash back, as someone responds to the knock and Matt crawls out of bed to open the door. It's Natalie and they are clearly in love. Fast forward to them both lying in bed after doing the business and they can hear Matt's co-workers coming close and beginning to enter. Matt gets up and closes the divider between the couple and the group of men. Pete is the drunkest of the group and opens this back up, sits on the bed and constantly teases the two, wanting to look under the covers. This pisses Matt off and he leaps up before hitting him and pushing him back. Things take a turn for the worse as the others grab Matt, before throwing Natalie aside as she lands and hits her head hard. She's knocked and Matt is held down to the ground but as she wakes, as realises that Pete is raping her, in order to teach Matt a lesson. Matt frees himself and beats Pete down, leading Natalie to escape out of the door and this is the point that we know she is running through the snow at the beginning. Matt is turned upon and clearly, this is the moment is he beaten to death.
From up the mountain, Corey is watching on and radios the Tribal Officer's leader to tell Jane to get away from the door but she is hit with a shotgun through the wood. All hell breaks loose and most are gunned down, scattering through the snow and behind the trailer for cover. Jane is saved by her vest and as she tries to reload, a guard takes the gun away from her and the end is near. That's until a bullet sends the guy flying and another is sent through another guard. Corey has his sniper out and is picking everyone off. Pete is the one inside the trailer and he escapes through a window and runs up to the woods, unknowingly towards Corey. Pete becomes paranoid that he is being chased before turning around and getting hit, square on the nose, by Corey and the butt of his gun. He is taken up a mountain and released, to run back down just like Natalie was. But Corey knows that he won't make it either, dying the way the Natalie's father would have thought was revenge. He drops and the film begins to draw to a close. Cory is sitting in the hospital with Jane as she recovers. He then goes to Natalie's fathers house to find him outside with death paint on his face. Corey breaks the news that the case was resolved and the man in question, 'went without a whimper'. Corey sits down with him and the screen cuts to black, with writing displaying that the statistics for missing native American women is unknown because they are the only ones that statistics aren't actually kept for.
The cast for this movie is of great calibre. Renner plays a dry, yet helpful hunter but we also see a vulnerable side to him when he explains to Jane about what happened to his own daughter. Jane is a worrier and green horn in this land, whose character grows throughout and becomes this strong leader of a group in the search of answers. Between all of the side characters, they have their own style, between humour, creepiness and aggression, they all added something. As Jon Bernthal enters the screen, my first thought was that he was the murderer. This guy plays 'bad' very well and it's an easy stereotype for him but when we seen Matt's body up the mountain, we didn't see his face, so it left the option of who is was, open to the viewers. The settings were simple, although probably unforgiving, due to the snow, coldness and the fact that Olsen got snow blindness from the amount of time spent out there.
Overall, this movie was truly gripping and enjoyable. You were instantly thrown into the storyline and not once could you leave or blink, in case you missed a vital piece of evidence. Renner was back to being a lead and took the chance with both hands. The dialogue, storyline and musical score, helped to carry this movie even further and the screenwriters work included Hell or High Water, which is deep in this movie's shadow. Things start a little slowly but quickly spiral through to the end that makes this a really good crime thriller and a very good watch. It leaves you with a sort of satisfying retribution by the end.
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