Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Graham Craycraft

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri has hit critics with a bang. Winning four Golden Globe awards along with numerous others, and being nominated for seven Oscars, Martin McDonagh’s film makes a big name for itself with this non-linear story of a mother who won’t stand for the unanswered loss of her daughter. Frances McDormand leads the way with a critic favorite performance and she has an excellent supporting cast in Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Peter Dinklage, and Caleb Landry Jones among others. McDonagh, writer and director, brings up issues of race, police brutality, love in a dysfunctional family, and the most apt issue faced in this movie: the dissatisfaction of revenge.

Points of race, police brutality, and love in a dysfunctional family all get raised, but not answered. There is one issue that permeates the entirety of this film, and that is revenge. An old saying goes “hate only breeds more hate,” and in Three Billboards, this is evident. A mother goes to great lengths to see police progress of the rape, murder, and burning of her daughter. By putting up three billboards that mean to antagonize and spur further police action, the town begins to hate McDormand’s character to the point of harassment, threats and even violence. Actions taken by McDormand’s character and others all breed more hate and the lust for revenge which ends well for no one. Three Billboards, although loved by most, left me conflicted.

I had mixed feelings on this film that can really be separated between the first and second hour of it. In the first hour I felt annoyed, confused, and shocked. Annoyed at the phony dialogue, confused on how this movie got such raving reviews, and shocked at how disappointed I was. The first hour was made up of bad dialogue, lacking character development, and amateur scene cuts. I was stricken at how this movie had been so well recepted by critics and fans alike. The second half of the movie for whatever reason fixed almost all its issues. The acting seemed to get better, the scenes were constructed better, and the sentimentality turned from cheesy to heartfelt. I began to actually empathize with the characters.

The camera work mixed with music choices works beautifully in the second half of the film. One of my, and probably most peoples’, biggest points of what makes a good movie is its ending. The ending of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri is near perfect, but as a whole this movie left me feeling conflicted. How could it have such a weak first half? Am I being too critical? I may need to revisit it, but I just wish if anything, the movie was cut together better and reviewed a little more. Despite the first half being poor, overall I do like the movie. The second half, the ending, and the chord that runs through its entirety are enough to save it. Let me know what you thought of it. Loved it? Hated it? Why?