Bordering on masterpeice status.

Rating: 9/10 (12 December 2017)

Billboards is, for the most part, an emotionally devastating masterclass hosting some of the richest performances I can ever recall seeing.
Despite the entirety of Billboards being fairy consistent, there are marginal differences in the quality of the film between it's first and second halves.
Whilst the first half of the film is a commendable effort, it serves more as a prelude to the intoxicatingly good second half, as opposed to being a standalone piece of material. The second half of the film is a richly immersive, mesmerizing gem.
As briefly mentioned, the performances are outstandingly compelling. Sam Rockwell was considerably impressive in Seven Psychopaths, however his performance here undoubtedly obliterates it from contention. Frances McDormand 's performance is equally significant and Woody Harrelson's contribution broadly impresses, though I struggle to equate it as being on the same standard as his two lead counterparts. Billboards succeeds in delivering a number of startlingly in depth character studies, and it's fascinating to observe the evolutions of a number of these characters throughout the film.
Billboards pertains to a darker, grittier and more realistic tone than Psychopaths, and also opts out of delivering an abundance of humour (be it dark or light). In Psychopaths, dark humour was an extensively underlying component of the film, though in Billboards it largely exists to provide comedic relief from the otherwise relentlessly bleak tone of the narrative, with some degree of success.
The film also hosts some marvellous cinematography that composes some incredible scenes through it's profound manipulation of imagery.
At no point during it's considerable duration did Billboards present any notion of linearity or being contrived, although a number of additional plot twists or other non - linear devices wouldn't have gone amiss. It is not so much a complaint, but more akin to a comparison between how sprawling and non linear Psychopaths was, in relation to the markedly safer approach taken by Billboards.
Billboards is also undoubtedly one of the most emotionally intense and raw films I have seen in recent memory, in stark contrast to the broadly lighter tone adopted by Psychopaths.
Overall, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is a remarkably accomplished feat that positions itself as more of a gritty, realistic drama (with thriller elements) than a dark comedy.