Those Who Wish Me Dead (Blu-ray Review)

In Those Who Wish Me Dead, Hannah Faber (Angelina Jolie) is a smokejumper, one of an elite group of firefighters who battle wildfires, Park County, Montana. She’s struggling with her recent failure to save three young campers and one of her colleagues during a recent campfire.

Meanwhile, forensic accountant Owen Casserly (Jake Weber) learns that his boss and his family have died in an apparent gas explosion, and he believes it to be an assassination related to information he uncovered. He goes on the run with his son Connor (Finn Little) believing he will be the next target. His plan is to get to his his brother-in-law, Ethan Sawyer (Jon Bernthal), a Deputy Sheriff, and Hannah’s ex-boyfriend. But before he can reach them, he is ambushed on the road by Jack (Aidan Gillen) and Patrick Blackwell (Nicholas Hoult), a father-son assassin duo. His car is run off the road and Owen passes off information on the Blackwell’s bosses to his son Connor right before he sends him out of the car and the Blackwells kill him. Connor is now on the run on his own as the Blackwells start a forest fire to distract from their hunt for the boy. Eventually Hannah crosses paths with Connor and the two must survive the fire and a fierce lightning storm while the Blackwells cross paths with Deputy Sawyer.

While the film does sometimes feel like it can be disjointed, it does eventually converge into a reasonable and believable thriller. Jolie shows she still has the chops for this sort of film and surrounded by a cast of actors who have made a career out of playing characters of dubious moral character, like Aidan Gillen, who is perfect as the cutthroat assassin, Jolie shines under the constant threat of danger from fire, lightning, and human violence. However, the setup of Hannah being a hotshot smokejumper is barely addressed beyond the first act with her doing some reckless unrelated stunts. Given the forest fire and lightning storm, it’s a missed opportunity for some brilliant action sequences. However, the more grounded slow-burn of the film still works.

Although it may not be entirely new thematically given the whole hunted-by-assassins theme, Those Who Wish Me Dead is an entertaining diversion and one that even improves after a second viewing.

Those Who Wish Me Dead (2021)

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The Video

Those Who Wish Me Dead was mostly shot on the Arri Alexa Mini with Panavision G- and T-Series lenses in 3.4K with some scenes shot on the Red Gemini with Panavision G-Series lenses in 5K. It uses a 2K DI. The film was one of Warner’s same day premieres in theaters and on HBO Max where it streamed in 4K UHD with Dolby Vision where available. Although Warner Bros. has not released the film on 4K disc, the Blu-ray, framed at 2.39:1 in AVC 1080p, looks gorgeous. It’s clean, it has solid contrast and good shadow details. The flesh tones are natural and the flames in the fires are resolved very well without clipping.

The Audio

Those Who Wish Me Dead on Blu-ray gets a rather bombastic yet somewhat stagnant lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix. The sound is full and dynamic. Explosions rattle the floorboards and give the subwoofer a good workout. That said, there’s not much solid activity in the surround channels, but there’s clear dialogue and wide stereo imaging with easy sounding high frequencies as well.

The Supplements

This is a barebones release that comes only with a brief making of and the digital code.

• Movies Anywhere Digital Code
• Making Those Who Wish Me Dead (1080p; 00:14:30)

The Final Assessment

A reference Blu-ray of an entertaining thriller even if the disc is barebones. Recommended.

Those Who Wish Me Dead is out on Blu-ray+Digital August 3, 2021 from Warner Bros.

• Rating Certificate: R (for strong violence, and language throughout)
• Studios & Distributors: BRON Studios | Creative Wealth Media Finance | Film Rites | HBO Max | Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
• Director: Taylor Sheridan
• Written By: Michael Koryta (screenplay by) | Charles Leavitt | (screenplay by) | Taylor Sheridan (screenplay by)
• Run Time: 100 Mins.
• Street Date: 3 August 2021
• Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
• Video Format: AVC 1080p
• Primary Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1
• Secondary Audio: English Descriptive Audio (US) | English Descriptive Audio (UK) | French DD 5.1 |German DD 5.1 | German Audio Description | Spanish (Castilian) DD 5.1 | Spanish (Latino) DD 5.1 | Portuguese DD 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH | German SDH | Chinese (Traditional) | Chinese (Simplified) | Spanish (Latino) | Spanish (Castilian) | Danish | Norwegian |French |Korean | Finnish | Swedish