Taylor Sheridan’s latest thriller, Those Who Wish Me Dead, arrives on Blu-ray from Warner Bros in an almost barebones edition.
The Production: 3/5
During a fierce forest fire in Montana, Hannah Faber (Angelina Jolie) misjudges the winds and is unable to save three young campers and a fellow firefighter, an event that is haunting her to this day with nightmares and panic attacks. For that reason, she is stationed atop a fire tower as a lookout for the coming fire season. Meanwhile, in Florida, forensic accountant Owen Casserly (Jake Weber) learns that the district attorney who hired him to find some damaging evidence against someone in government may have just been assassinated. Owen flees the Sunshine State with his son Connor (Finn Little), hoping to take up refuge with his brother in law Sherriff Deputy Ethan (Jon Bernthal) at a survival camp deep in the forests of Montana. The two hitmen (Nicholas Hoult and Aidan Gillen) catch up with Owen, taking him out but not before Connor escapes with the vital information, entrusting his son to not look at the evidence but instead deliver it to “someone he can trust” to turn it over to the local TV news station. While on the run, Connor runs into Hannah, who offers to help get Connor to safety through a vicious forest fire set by the two hitmen.
That’s a lot of story, but one of the problems with Taylor Sheridan’s Those Who Wish Me Dead (based on the popular novel by Micheal Kortya) is that it seems to take forever to get started, and then once it does, it stops for more exposition. Although some critics had issues with the performances, I felt this was a well-acted film, and my other main issue with the film (besides the pacing) was the main plot point of the damaging evidence being nothing more than a MacGuffin, as we never find out what it is or who it implicates (other than an unknown government agent known only as “Arthur” played by Tyler Perry who apparently hired the two hit men).
Video: 4.5/5
3D Rating: NA
Those Who Wish Me Dead was captured at 3.4K resolution on Arri Alexa Mini cameras with some sequences at 5K on Red Gemini cameras, and completed as a 2K digital intermediate. Although available in 4K from digital retailers, the highest resolution available on physical media is this Blu-ray release, and for the format, its actually very good. Colors are strong, vivid, and yet not overly saturated. Black levels are very good, with decent shadow detail and minimal crush and banding. Fine detail is strong with good depth, particularly during exterior forest sequences.
Audio: 4.5/5
Those Who Wish Me Dead was released theatrically with a 5.1 surround mix, here available in DTS-HD MA. Surrounds are active during the firefighting and other action sequences, with LFE adding extra emphasis. Dialogue is clear and understandable throughout, offering a wide front soundstage.
Special Features: 1.5/5
Making “Those Who Wish Me Dead” (1080p; 14:30): An above average EPK piece that gives one a good idea how difficult this film was to make. But that is all that is on this disc, not even preview trailers.
Digital Copy: An insert contains a code to redeem a digital HD copy on Movies Anywhere.
Overall: 3.5/5
Those Who Wish Me Dead is a passable thriller if you don’t think too hard, available on Blu-ray with a very good video and audio presentation.
Those Who Wish Me Dead (Blu-ray)
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Todd Erwin has been a reviewer at Home Theater Forum since 2008. His love of movies began as a young child, first showing Super 8 movies in his backyard during the summer to friends and neighbors at age 10. He also received his first movie camera that year, a hand-crank Wollensak 8mm with three fixed lenses. In 1980, he graduated to "talkies" with his award-winning short The Ape-Man, followed by the cult favorite The Adventures of Terrific Man two years later. Other films include Myth or Fact: The Talbert Terror and Warren's Revenge (which is currently being restored). In addition to movie reviews, Todd has written many articles for Home Theater Forum centering mostly on streaming as well as an occasional hardware review, is the host of his own video podcast Streaming News & Views on YouTube and is a frequent guest on the Home Theater United podcast.
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