My expectations were high, but they still got exceeded

Rating: 8/10 (3 March 2018)

Here we have "Wind River", a new American movie that finally made it to German theaters too, and this is the most recent work by writer and director Taylor Sheridan, who to me proves that he is right up there with the best as this is certainly one of 2017's finest film achievements. After his success with "Hell or High Water", he creates something even better here, even if this one is not getting as much awards attention. But don't be distracted by that, it's an excellent film. It's set in the snowy isolated Indian territories of Wyoming where a young woman is murdered and her brother and his drug-addicted gang members as well as the workers on an oil rig may be connected to said murder. The moment you find out what happened exactly is the very best part of the film in my opinion. And one of the best film scenes in 2017 in general as tragic as it may be. Or because of how tragic it was. And as I am a huge Jeremy Renner fan, that means quite something because these scenes are the only ones he isn't in. He still reminds me a bit of a big screen version of Timothy Oliphant. Anyway, Renner is good here, has some pretty decent material to work with, probably more than Olsen who is more about the contrast between city girl and the region she is forced to work in now. In a bad movie, the case about Renner's character's daughter would have been solved too out of nowhere and the two protagonists would have gotten visibly together as a couple, but luckily Sheridan decided to go for harsh realism instead. Realism that fits the region where this 105-minute movie is set. This is not a winter wonderland. It is bleak and cold surroundings that you really would want to get away from as fast as you can.
The film will have you at the edge of your seat for a long time I'm sure just like it had me. It's as violent as it needs to be, so if you are easily offended by gruesome bloody scenes, then you should avoid it, even if you are missing out on a great experience this way. Be warned that innocent are gonna die. The only sequence I was not too fond of was the first escalation at the rig where everybody was pointing their guns at everybody as this came as much out of nowhere as it felt a bit exaggerated. But everything afterward and before is top-notch like, in terms of afterward, the moment the film moves back to the tragic events when we look into the trailer and enter the door. Renner and Olsen had pretty good chemistry and like with them and everybody else I never had the impression I was watching actors, but actual characters. They became what their surroundings made of them. Oh yeah, and Renner really has some pretty badass moments too towards the end, even if he pulls off the more serious moments effortlessly too and I am talking of course about the grieving father parts here. The film reminded me a bit of Sicario at times and overall I think this is one of the best crime thrillers of 2017, maybe even the likeliest contender for the top prize. I highly highly recommend checking it out. A must-see for everybody who likes the genre and Sheridan proves to the world that he is not just an incredibly fine screen writer, but also has all it takes to deliver top-notch material from the directing perspective. Shame it took him so long to get going in these fields away from acting. I smell many Oscar nominations in the future, Oscar nominations that for this film he has been unjustly denied. Watch it.