I expected quality and pretty much received it

Rating: 8/10 (12 November 2017)

Being a fan of Taylor Sheridan's Sicario and Hell or High Water, I expected the same level of suspense, drama, believable characters and cinematography. By and large I received this. He is setting a high bar for himself.
A big positive is a great cast, from the smaller roles to the two main leads. Jeremy Renner at his most comfortable, almost downplaying his character to accommodate Elizabeth Olsen who, yet again, absolutely compounds my belief she has a great career ahead of her. She needs more leading roles with a decent script and complex characters, without a doubt. She is wasted in the blockbuster movies such as the Avengers and Godzilla (but I guess they pay the bills!). I will be seeking her out in Kodachrome with haste.
People may say she was given a meek, 'rabbit caught in the headlights' role here. I feel this isn't really the point, just simply the opportunity to tell a story of a character becoming stronger, not a super hero, just stronger.
Wind River sets the tone for a bleak, dare I say, boring, setting of a reservation with a 'wild west like' lawless nature. It then plays out a well paced whodunnit thriller. I rarely say this but I actually feel it could have benefited from 10-15 mins added to the runn time to flesh out the plot line further. Or maybe I feel that way simply because I was enjoying it so much?
The script was concise and I can't think of a scene I thought was superfluous to the plot. No mean feat in a modern film. A sign of a good editor.
Sadly, it is by no means perfect. I feel more could have been made of the injustices taken place on the reservation and the poor treatment of Native Americans. Also, there were a couple of scenes with a shaky cam which I cannot believe was purposeful, if so, it was unnecessary and distracting.
The film left me damning myself for not making the time to see this in the cinema, I know for a fact I would have enjoyed it more.
This is everything the recent 'The Snowman' should have been.