Best film of 2018!

Rating: 9/10 (13 February 2018)

I loved this film. Without a doubt, this might just be the best film of 2018. The story was just so amazing, and tragic, and beautiful. It's very rare that a film can have just such perfect casting, but this is certainly one of them.
The director (Martin McDonagh) captured everything that I like in films, a great story, a great cast, beautiful shots, and a perfect ending. Right off the bat, you're in the film, you know whats going on because it is so clear.
The film was so beautifully shot with a perfect set of locations and a story. Character development is something that is very important and not many films can do it as well as Martin McDonagh has done here. You start the film with the impression of Frances McDormand's character Mildred to be this incredibly tough woman who just wants justice for her daughter. But as the film progresses, we see that she is just like everyone else. When Woody Harrelson's character Willoughby gets properly sick and coughs blood on Mildred, her face just turns, and so do the audience's. You aren't sure what's going to happen, will she get mad? Or will she reassure him and be kind. She immediately changes everyones hearts, she is a mother at heart, this was the first thing to the audience that made her feel just that bit more real.
Willoughby dies in the film, and not from his cancer, he decides to take his life. He leaves letters for everyone. What struck me most about this is what he said, and the though process his character went through. "I don't want your lasting memory of me to be in a hospital bed". Looking back on it, it was always going to happen, Willoughby has one amazing day with his kids and wife, he seems okay, even though there's billboards out there with his name on it. Honestly Woody Harrelson's character was just so amazing, and would not have worked with any other actor.
Sam Rockwell's character Dixon is another great example of character development. From being a racist, to crying to his dear friends death, to catching fire, to then forgiving Mildred for it and going on an adventure with her to kill a bad man... okay so maybe he didn't change all that much. But throughout the duration of the film I hated him. But coming to the end, where he goes to Mildred to tell her he thinks he knows who killed her daughter, even though it was wrong, it still makes me so happy that Martin McDonagh made the entire theatre change their minds. Just like Woody Harrelson, it couldn't have been played by anyone else.
The film ends with us still not knowing who killed Mildred's daughter, but knowing that Dixon and Mildred are off to hunt a man, who has raped, and that they are going to serve him justice, maybe not in the way that most people would, but in a way that suits their characters.
Overall, such an amazing film, would 100% recommend that you go and to see it in theatres for the full experience. I still wouldn't rate this 5/5, only because I believe that there is always room to improve. I personally would've explained Mildred's son a bit more, I felt like he was just there for the ride and had no proper significance to the film. I still enjoyed his character though.
I would 100% recommend this film, make it a day out with your friends, have a meal afterwards. It is honestly one of my favourite films.