ENJOYED

Rating: 8/10 (12 May 2019)

I mildly enjoyed In Bruges (2008) instead of loving it as some people do and I had the same experience with this film. It was good, definitely, and yes I found it's treatment of Sam Rockwell's character a little odd but I would not have given it a Best Picture nomination. Frances McDormand and Woody Harrelson give great performances and the screenplay contains some real gems which are the main reasons why you should watch this film. I wanted slightly deeper exploration of certain characters' motives and backstories and I would have liked it if the lead character was less one note but unfortunately this was not to be. Not the most memorable film in the world but features a lot of great talent collaborating and is very watchable despite being about some graphically violent subject material.
Mildred Hayes, Frances McDormand, has grown increasingly frustrated over the lack of progress in the investigation of the rape and murder of her daughter Angela. She places three billboards emblazoned with accusatory statements in a field leading into their town and comes into conflict with the town's reasonable police chief William Willoughby, Woody Harrelson, who is dying of cancer. Volatile, racist Officer Jason Dixon, Sam Rockwell, assaults the homosexual man who allowed Mildred to place the billboards but when tragic circumstances lead to the loss of an important figure Mildred and Dixon will have to unite.
At the beginning of the film it was easy to empathize with the lead character's anger and righteous indignation but the introduction of the flawed but sympathetic Willoughby made the film more layered. We see him as a family man and I fully expected him to be the rapist and killer based on this portrayal but when a shocking twist of another nature occurs I felt quite emotional. Harrelson is a great actor, as shown by The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) and his brief role in The Thin Red Line (1998), and here he is likable and affable while still seeming like a jaded police chief. The scenes in which he interacts with his family felt mawkish but this was mainly McDonagh's direction and the character serves as a nice counterbalance to the main character.
McDormand is very good in her role as an angry, aggrieved woman but I wanted to see some moments of her relenting or being slightly less than extremely angry. The main character journey in the film is that of Dixon as we see his efforts to track down Angela's murderer become more concerted after he survives a raging fire. This development could work in a film that feels less sentimental but the treatment of his character initially, as a comical racist, makes it strange when we are meant to emotionally invest in his character changing. Obviously he faced serious physical damage but we never see any mental repercussions for his assault of a gay man and when they are placed together in the hospital I did not pity him. Although the final scene is entertaining and suggests that Mildred will be fulfilled I didn't think it should have been as cut and dry as it was when we are meant to see him through new eyes.
McDonagh's direction is assured and the film is paced well despite most scenes ending with Mildred physically abusing someone. The straightforward attitude that McDonagh takes to filmmaking is positive in this day and age where every filmmaker seems as though they are trying to be a young Christopher Nolan and uses non-linear storytelling. The colors of the film are fresh and vibrant with red being the dominant color and the image of the three billboards standing out starkly against the greens of the field. The score didn't have much impact when considering the fact that it received a Best Original Score Academy Award nomination but it's better to be irrelevant than extremely present and awful like in River's Edge (1986).
This is a decent film that you can watch with parents and friends but it's not worth paying extra for, try to catch it on television or on Netflix. I'm glad that this film finally earned Rockwell huge amounts of recognition but I'm not so hot on Vice (2018).