Delayed Reaction: Those Who Wish Me Dead

Premise: A smokejumper finds a young boy in the woods and tries to keep him safe from the hitmen who wish him dead.

Angelina Jolie is famous because...?

 

I like Angelina Jolie. I'm generally intrigued to hear when she's in a movie, but it sure is tough to look at her filmography and think that it's the credits of a star. Like, a top tier star. She has that early Oscar win. The Tomb Raider movies were big but haven't had little lasting impact. Mr. & Mrs. Smith was fun. She got another Oscar nomination for Changeling. Maleficent was a hit thanks to some excellent casting. But really, what about her filmography suggests that she's one of the biggest stars in 4 different decades?

 

For someone who doesn't work a ton, Those Who Wish Me Dead is a very odd role for her. Jolie can play a number of roles. She can be an emotional train wreck, the most elegant woman in the world, a badass agent or spy, an evil stepmother, etc. One thing I can't buy her as is salt of the earth. You know, I just can't imagine her wearing flannel. That makes this movie weird. Well, that's one of the reasons.

 

This is a pretty strange movie all-around. It's one of those movies where everyone seems surprised that they're in a movie together. Jolie plays a smokejumper with a death wish. She's protecting a kid from the city whose father was killed for knowing too much. Aidan Gillen and Nicholas Hoult are international assassins. Jon Bernthal is a local sheriff with a pregnant wife. Whenever any of the characters interact, they treat the other person like an interloper in their movie. I didn't dislike it. Just, repeatedly while watching this, I found myself thinking "OK. I guess this is the kind of movie I'm watching".

 

This is a nice enough thriller. It belongs in 1998 starring Ashley Judd, probably (but I hear from Miramax execs that she's difficult to work with). I don't get why Jolie took this role, but she's OK in it. This feels like a movie they would've relegated to HBO Max in some way even if there was no pandemic.

 

Verdict: Weakly Don't Recommend