Jeremy Renner Excels as a Craftsman in the Lead Role --- including allowing the other actors to stand out on their own....

Rating: 8/10 (7 December 2017)

It is hard to criticize this movie, with one caveat. We are still in that place where movies about First Nation people have to have white people in them as a principle focus. That said, the film is "inspired" by actual events, so this may very likely be the way it went down. The film explores the theme of missing and murdered indigenous women, and makes a direct comment about that still-neglected subject at the end. Jeremy Renner plays a fascinating character with huge emotional depth, awareness, respect and sensitivity. Renner's character's skillset is fully developed, and is critical to the film. The fact that he is alert and knowledgeable makes everything else work. I thought Elizabeth Olsen did fine, and the First Nation actors were outstanding --- and could very easily have been more developed than they were. While this film didn't really have to work so hard at building a white character in a First Nation setting, my esteem for Jeremy Renner has nonetheless bumped up a couple more notches. He is really deep and versatile, and in this case, he did not intrude on the space, despite being the film's leading actor. In fact, he had a knack for backing off, and allowing the other actors to shine in their respective roles --- a mark of a very fine craftsman. I'm not sure who else could have played the role if Renner had not been there. One more aspect --- there was no point at which suspension of belief was difficult. I was roped in from the very first minute, and the emphasis on Renner's role as a wildlife tracker was allegorically so much on the mark. That is, the film was about tracking both figuratively and literally, and the themes were intertwined almost perfectly, in my opinion. Kudos to all involved.