Suspenseful! A perfect thriller!

Rating: 10/10 (1 August 2017)

The screenwriter who gave us "Sicario" and "Hell or High Water" has come back with "Wind River" which he also directed and I am now convinced more than ever that Taylor Sheridan is one of the best storytellers of our time. There's something about his thrillers that are just so cunning and sharp and profound, like a great American classic, even novelist Dennis Lehane probably couldn't come up with materials that are as skillfully played as this. And with "Wind River" Sheridan's personal artistry mission to do some effort to right the wrongs that the system has committed against the Native Americans, continues.
The story is about a rookie FBI agent (Elizabeth Olsen) who teams up with a tracker/hunter (Jeremy Renner) with a tragic past in order to investigate the murder of a local girl on a remote Native American Reservation.
Sheridan has tackled themes surrounding the Native Americans before but with this latest one, it's not so much that he's preaching about it but he ties it into this entire fabric of community where you sense the clash between outsiders and locals, between whites and natives, so there's a level of frustration about that arises from this murder investigation that brings up all kinds of cultural suspicions, on top of which there's also a game of jurisdictions. It's a complex yet cleverly woven thriller that starts out as a whodunit and evolves into a thirst for retribution. And the fact that it's set in a very cold harsh environment just adds to the film's chilling effect.
In many ways, Elizabeth Olsen performs here like Jodie Foster's Clarice Starling where at some points you kinda know that Olsen's character may be out of her elements, but at the same time that factor actually gives her a good vantage point. Jeremy Renner plays his character like an old timer western hero who knows the ins and outs of everything, a man of few words but gets tough when needed. Their dynamic is not some kind of odd couple cop duo, this is more like each of them trying to prove themselves while bringing justice to the family of the unfortunate girl. And the way Sheridan crafts the mystery from a small radius to a much larger scheme is one that will have you hooked. "Wind River" is highly suspenseful, it's a perfect thriller.
-- Rama's Screen --