Wind River- No Spoilers

Graham Craycraft
Wind River is Taylor Sheridan’s third screenwriting achievement. After movies like Sicario and Hell or High Water, I was already impressed. Now I’m in disbelief. Not only is Wind River another great film, but it is also Sheridan’s directorial debut. While only clocking in at 111 minutes, this film feels like a lifetime. We’ve all sat through a mediocre movie that can just never find its ending. This is not those movies. This “lifetime” that I am referring to is a journey that you will never want to end.
Immediately when the movie started I thought to myself how Tom Hardy would’ve been a perfect cast, and not Jeremy Renner for this role. Jeremy… I’m sorry. You have proved me so wrong and I love you for it. Renner’s character shares the audience’s frustration at the lack of evident facts at hand. He is no lawman and doesn’t pretend to be one. As he reminds the characters and the audience a few times, he is just a hunter and a tracker. And he’s ready to hunt whatever is a threat to the people he loves. Renner’s character is a solemn and level headed man who matches the calm landscape of the snowy reservations of Wind River, Wyoming.
This movie enters as one of my favorite and most beautifully utilized landscapes. Up there of course being movies like The Revenant, Hell or High Water and Gangs of New York. Looking out on the snowy Wyoming scenery from a safe and warm location would be wonderful. But that’s not what happens. We are thrust into the freezing and dangerous world that the characters live in. There is no escape for most of these characters. The snow and ice is their home no matter how they choose to live it. The barren landscape requires a different mood to be put forth and instead of forcing action packed scenes at every turn in this movie, Sheridan slows it down and builds the tension like pulling a rubber band back further and further.

Unlike the typical break-neck pace from Sheridan’s movies, Wind River takes its time. It toys with you and brings you to the edge of your seat multiple times throughout. Often times when directors and authors attempt to have the audience share the feelings of monotony or frustration with the characters it comes out flat and aggravating. Either it is too slow or too repetitive. Sheridan found a way to balance the audience’s confusion and fear of the unknown with the characters of Wind River. Never was I bored, annoyed, or too confused. This movie comes in as one of my favorites of 2017 and makes me excited for whatever Sheridan has for us in the future.

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