Angie stars as a “smoke jumper”, which is just a silly way of saying she’s a skydiving firefighter. Since Something Bad Happened in her past, she is now reduced to being stationed all by her lonesome in a fire tower in the middle of the forest. She finds a kid (Finn Little) whose father was murdered by some hitmen (Aidan Gillen and Nicholas Hoult) and it’s up to her to protect him at all costs. The killers set a forest fire to cover their tracks, but we all know Angie has what it takes to put out the fire and take down the bad guys.
The worst thing about the movie is simultaneously the most endearing. It just tries too hard to make Jolie this tough, capable action heroine with emotional baggage who participates in big action scenes, but at all times, she just looks like a goddamn movie star. Her Burnout on the Edge scenes are funny too. We learn the answer to “Just How Badass is She?” early on when she stands up in the back of a speeding pick-up truck and pulls her parachute, sending her flying down the highway in search of an adrenaline rush. Never mind the fact that her hair and make-up suggest she should be playing in a romantic comedy or something.
Other than that, it’s pretty standard stuff. The only real difference is that we have a firefighter heroine instead of what ordinarily would’ve been a traditional cop heroine. It was directed by Taylor (Hell or High Water) Sheridan, and features a great supporting cast that includes Jon Bernthal, Jake Weber, and uh… Tyler Perry as the man who sanctioned the hit. Jolie isn’t bad, it’s just that her repartee with the kid is kind of grating.
Those Who Wish Me Dead ultimately suffers from having way too many side characters that get in the way of the main story. Maybe the filmmakers realized Jolie and the kid had no chemistry, so they kept cutting away to the deputy and his pregnant wife and the subplot about the two hitmen. There are also one or two goofy touches, but it’s not nearly enough to make it worthwhile. I mean what can you say about a movie that has Angelina Jolie trying to avoid being struck by lightning not once, but TWICE!?!
Also, for a firefighter, she spends most of the movie running away from the fire! Firefighter? More like a fireAVOIDER, amirite?
I thought Jolie was pretty damn convincing.
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