Those Who Wish Me Dead

A good deal pulpier and less sophisticated than filmmaker Taylor Sheridan's other movies, this thriller still displays a lean, taut storytelling style, despite its many moving parts and characters. Based on a novel by Michael Koryta, Those Who Wish Me Dead fits in nicely with Sheridan's other modern "Westerns" -- both as writer (Sicario, Hell or High Water) and as director (Wind River, TV's Yellowstone) -- except that it's less about rural lives and more designed as a star vehicle for Jolie.

That said, two supporting characters, a sheriff (Jon Bernthal) and his pregnant wife (Medina Senghore), add some much needed flavor to the otherwise straightforward proceedings. And the two killers might have been all-too-familiar clichés, but Gillen and Hoult give them a stripped-down, all-business approach that makes them formidable villains. Tyler Perry randomly pops up in one scene, as their criminal boss who's behind all this chaos; somehow the scene centers the action, and Perry manages to sell it. Sheridan's solid set pieces and action scenes culminate in a showdown between Jolie and Hoult in the woods, with the approaching fire creating deep shadows and an ominous orange hue. At the top of it all is Jolie, who stays sharp, finds a connection with young Little, and makes Those Who Wish Me Dead feel like solid (if traditional) Hollywood entertainment.