THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD : Tuesday 18th May 2021.

'THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD' is an MA15+ Rated American survival action thriller film which I saw this week at my local multiplex. It is Directed and Co-Written for the screen by Taylor Sheridan and based on the 2014 book of the same name by Michael Koryta. Sheridan's previous two film making credits are 'Vile' in 2011 and 'Wind River' in 2017, although he has also written the Screenplays for various others including 'Sicario' in 2015 and its 2018 sequel 'Sicario : Day of the Soldado', 'Hell or High Water' and 'Wind River', plus numerous episodes of TV series 'Yellowstone'. The film was released in South Korea earlier this month, went on general release in Australia and the US from last week, has so far grossed US$7.5M and has generated mixed critical Reviews.

Here then, Hannah Faber (Angelina Jolie) is a smokejumper (a specially trained wildland firefighter who provides an initial attack response on remote wildland fires - they are inserted at the location of the fire by parachute) who is struggling to come to terms with the deaths of three young boys and another smokejumper last year during a forest fire which she was supposedly in charge of, and mis-read the direction the wind was blowing in, so engulfing the four fatalities in flame. She has subsequently been posted to a fire observation tower above the tree line in Park County, Montana. 

In the meantime Owen Casserly (Jake Weber) a widowed forensic accountant is preparing breakfast for his son Connor (Finn Little) when he learns over breaking early morning news that his boss and his family were blown sky high in an apparent gas explosion at their home. The reality is, that they were killed by father and son assassins Jack and Patrick Blackwell (Aiden Gillen and Nicholas Hoult respectively). Owen is of the belief that the assassins will target him next, as the evidence revealed during the course of his forensic accounting investigations tell a story of wide spread corruption through government departments, politicians and other influential parties. And so Owen makes a snap decision to go on the run with Connor, ultimately wanting to seek refuge with his brother-in-law Ethan Sawyer (Jon Bernthal) a Deputy Sheriff in Park County, and Hannah's former boyfriend. 

En-route to Park County, and after the Blackwell's have ransacked the Casserly home to find no one there and evidence that they left in a hurry, the Blackwell's ambush Owen and Connor forcing them off the road and down a steep ravine. As Owen sits in the drivers seat dying, he gives Connor hand written evidence implicating the Blackwell's employer, mob boss Arthur Phillip (Tyler Perry). He tells Connor to get out of the car and go hide under a fallen tree and to remain silent no matter what he witnesses. At that, from the road, the Blackwell's fire a barrage of bullets into the back of the car, shredding Owen who puts his foot on the accelerator sending the vehicle crashing down the ravine even further before coming to rest in a crumpled heap on its side at the bottom.    

Ethan comes across the car wreck on his way home later that afternoon, and meanwhile Hannah encounters Connor wandering through the forest while she is out on patrol. Connor is initially untrusting of Hannah and tries to evade her, but when confronted with a twelve mile hike to the nearest town relents and reluctantly agrees to accompany her back to the tower to contact the Police and the news media for help. Jack Blackwell receives a call from Arthur Phillip who wants to meet. Phillip instructs Blackwell to hunt down Connor and kill him.

And so in order to cause a distraction for a few hours while the Blackwell's go about their business, they start a forest fire using flares that quickly ignites the dry undergrowth and before you know it is a full blown forest fire raging out of control. They then drive to Ethan's house disguised as Police Officers believing that Connor would have made it there, to be greeted by Ethan's six months pregnant wife Allison (Medina Senghore). They force their way in and beat Allison into submission until she agrees to call Ethan and ask him the whereabouts of Connor. Ultimately, another scuffle breaks out in which Allison gains the upper hand with the use of a gas cylinder which she ignites and points it flamethrower like at Jack burning him badly to the side of his face, and fires off a few shotgun rounds at Patrick in the process catching them both off guard. Allison escapes the house.

That night an electrical storm strikes and a direct lightning bolt hits the tower frying the radio, the satellite phone and all the electrics in the place. Hannah then leads Connor into town on foot but are forced to retreat back to the tower when the fire blocks their safe passage through the woodland. Hannah is struck by lightning when crossing an open field, but survives badly shaken but not stirred save for a not insignificant burn to her shoulder. Ethan hurries home with the Sheriff having been previously alerted in the phone call from Allison that something was not quite right at home. The Blackwell's emerge and shoot the Sheriff dead and then force Ethan to guide them through the forest as their tracker to hunt down Connor. 

The Blackwell's and Ethan eventually come across the tower which appears empty, except from smoke rising out of a wood burning chimney. Ethan is forced to search it while the Blackwell's watch from a tree, saying that if Connor is in there to bring him down to them, and if not, to set the lookout alight. Having returned to the tower earlier, Hannah and Connor both hide while Ethan attempts to make it appear empty in the dark. Patrick notices Ethan talking and they start shooting into the tower, injuring Ethan. Hannah and Connor manage to escape. The Blackwells try to follow them but are stopped when Allison, having tracked down Ethan by way of a GPS, starts shooting at them. Patrick and Jack split up, with Patrick going after Hannah and Connor, and Jack staying to try and kill Allison; however, she shoots him twice disabling him and then plugs him with a third round at close range killing him.

Connor is told to run ahead by Hannah who has suffered a bullet wound to the leg, while she attempts to distract Patrick but he gains the upper hand over Hannah and is savagely landing punches to her face and head. Connor returns pleading for him to stop beating Hannah. Patrick rises to his feet, and approaches Connor telling him to turn around while he draws a knife in readiness to slit the young lads throat. Hannah meanwhile rises to her feet behind Patrick and lunges at him twice and a third time with a pick axe severely injuring him to the point where he asks her to finish him off. But she declines saying that he can suffer and then leaves him to burn to death in the approaching fire which quickly and very painfully engulfs him. 

Allison reunites with Ethan in the tower but they are trapped by the fire; they put on oxygen masks and hold each other as it surrounds them. Hannah and Connor jump into a stream and watch from under the water as the fire engulfs the forest all around and above them. The next morning as day breaks Hannah and Connor are sat by the waters edge of the stream which saved them both. They walk back to the tower, just as three men from Hannah's smoke-jumping team are parachuted in to save them, and Allison in the tower. Ethan died overnight from injuries sustained from his bullet wounds. Later that morning after medical assistance had been rendered, Connor prepares to give his father's evidence to the awaiting media channels and Hannah promises to help him navigate through his uncertain future. 

The production values in 'Those Who Wish Me Dead' are pretty good it must be said, particularly the staged forest fire sequences which look authentic enough and add to the realism of the film. There is also a fine cast of A-list movie talent here that is underpinned by two up and coming stars in young Aussie Finn Little and Medina Senghore that help elevate the film somewhat, and add a few moments of tension and emotion in an otherwise fairly predictable storyline that never rises above the sum of its parts. Had this film been released sometime during the late '80's or the '90's it probably would have been a smash hit and as it is this film is a formulaic throwback to those natural disaster flicks that filled the shelves in our local video and dvd rental stores during that bygone era. The Director and Writer Taylor Sheridan has proven his abilities with action spectacle and how to get the most out of his cast in an entertaining enough feature that is often overly violent, and will leave many questions unanswered by the time the end credits roll. At a brisk running time of one hundred minutes it is fast paced and will not leave you wanting, even though within 24 hours you will have forgotten about this movie and wondering what to see next. 

'Those Who Wish Me Dead' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

A FALL FROM GRACE : Monday 13th April 2020.

In these very trying and testing times for us all that has seen many cinema's, Odeon's, and movie theatres around the world close their doors for the foreseeable future because of the escalating threat of the COVID-19 Coronavirus taking an ever increasing hold on the world at large, many film and television productions halted in their tracks indefinitely, and new film releases pushed back to some future date when some sense of movie going normalcy is expected to resume, I have, needless to say, had to adapt to this new world order. And so with my usual Reviews of the latest cinematic releases being curtailed, instead I will post my Review of the latest release movies showing on Netflix until such time as the regular outing to my local multiplex or independent theatre can be reinstated.

In the last few weeks then, a number of new feature films have landed at Netflix - of which I review as below 'A Fall from Grace' which I saw from the comfort of my sofa at home on Monday 13th April.

'A FALL FROM GRACE' - is an American thriller offering Directed, Written, Co-Produced and starring Tyler Perry which landed on Netflix in the US as an original film on 17th January 2020. The film was shot over the course of just five days, and as a consequence has been criticised for its lack of continuity and extras staring straight at the camera (case in point - observe two diners in the background as the main lead couple in the film enjoy their first date together at a restaurant). The film has garnered generally unfavourable reviews, and was according to Netflix statistics viewed by an audience of 26 million in its first week of screening on the streaming service.  

The film opens up with Police Officer on the beat Jordan Bryant (Matthew Law) who is seen one night attempting to coax an elderly woman down from the roof of a house where she is threatening to throw herself from. A helicopter emerges, shining a bright light on the woman, which prompts her to jump to her death. Early the next morning as day breaks, he climbs into bed and snuggles up to his wife, Jasmine (Bresha Webb), just as she wakes up to seize the day as a 26 year old recently graduated from law school attorney working for the Public Defenders Office.

Upon arriving at her place of work she is summonsed into the office by her boss, Rory Garraux (Tyler Perry) and handed a case file for one Grace Waters (Crystal Fox) who wants to plead guilty to the murder of her husband Shannon DeLong (Mehcad Brooks). Jasmine, who up until this point has only taken plea deals in her small town Virginia, visits Grace in prison to confirm her wish to plea bargain, and then to raise the necessary paperwork to that effect and to gain her signature. Grace's only request is that she be housed in a local prison so that she can remain close to her son Malcolm (Walter Fauntleroy) and his newborn child.

Jasmine, who is a bit of a wet blanket of a defence lawyer who has never tried a case before and lacks the fortitude, the resilience, and seemingly any ounce of experience is ready to roll over and push for the plea bargain, but the prosecuting lawyer Bradley Tankerton (Adrian Pasdar) will have none of it, claiming that she is guilty 110%, has confessed to the murder, and rightly deserves to be locked up for life. When confronted with a number of road blocks in the case all stacking up against Grace, she retreats within herself, cries like some spoiled child, seeks solace in her husband who basically tells her to toughen up, and is ready to give up her law career before it's even started!

As Jasmine digs deeper in to the case she is troubled by the pattern of blood pooling at the bottom of the stairs leading down to Grace's basement, plus the fact that Shannon's body was never recovered. Rory meanwhile, becomes increasingly agitated by Jasmine's belief that Grace may in fact be innocent after all, but presses the young attorney to pursue the signed confession so that the case can be wound up. His office does not have the funding to pursue a court case, and doesn't need the media frenzy who already by the court of public opinion has found Grace guilty as all hell. He visits Grace in prison with Jasmine to push for her to sign, by which time, Grace has made up her mind to have her day in court at the hands of the inexperienced still wet behind the ears Jasmine.

Jasmine, visits the home of Grace's best friend Sarah Miller (Phylicia Rashad), who recounts in flashbacks that following Grace's divorce she became more introverted, withdrawn and sorrowful for her current circumstances as a middle aged woman. Sarah urged Grace to get out, live a little and maybe she'll meet someone new. This leads her to the opening night of a photographic exhibition at a local art gallery where she meets Shannon, the exhibitor of his photographic works of Ethiopia. He almost immediately homes in on Grace, with his suave, sophisticated words and compliments. At first Grace keeps her distance, but Shannon showers her with roses, photos from his exhibit, wine, dinner, constant compliments, and eventually she falls for his charming ways. In three months the pair get married and for a short while their lives are all sunshine and rainbows.

Gradually Shannon's charming ways give way to cruelty as he seemingly keeps secrets from her. Grace is fired instantly from her long standing and respected job at the bank when it is discovered that some US$350K is missing from the accounts she manages. Thinking someone has stolen her identity, Grace soon discovers that Shannon has stolen from her accounts using her passwords, and has also mortgaged her house to the tune of US$370K with forged documents. When confronted with this, Shannon's retorts that he needed the money to pay off some debts, and that Grace's house is now their house, and in this State, when a couple are married all wealth and assets pass into joint names and as such he had every right to remortgage the house. When Grace and Sarah visit a lawyer seeking advice and guidance about prosecuting Shannon, they are told that any case will take years to come to court, cost a small fortune, with no certainty over the outcome.

The last straw comes when Grace arrives home to find Shannon in their bed with another woman, and he forces Grace out of the room asking for their privacy. He parades the young woman down the stairs in front of Grace like some trophy, with the woman saying that she never realised that your mother would be home, and next time to make sure she is out of the house. That evening as Shannon is sat in the lounge talking smugly at Grace with his back to her, Grace becomes increasingly angry and beats Shannon with a baseball bat multiple times over the head splattering his blood all over the place and all over her too. She then throws his limp lifeless body down the stairs into her basement. Grace then drives for hours into the middle of nowhere to call her friend Sarah and tell her she killed her husband.

Sarah further explains that following that phone call she went to Grace's house and witnessed her son Malcolm leaving the house. She found Shannon's body to be missing, believing that Malcolm helped Grace dispose of it somewhere in remote bushland. In court, Jasmine fails miserably at proving that Grace is innocent. Calling Sarah as a witness backfires because the prosecution reveals phone records showing numerous phone calls between the women on the night of the murder. Jasmine tries to claim that the phone records are inadmissible because she had no prior knowledge of their existence, but the prosecutor alleges that she did and that she just overlooked them. A decision that the Judge upholds in favour of the prosecutor. Sarah finally admits in the witness box after repeated questioning that Grace confessed to killing Shannon to her. Grace is found, hardly surprisingly, guilty by the jury.

Feeling sorry for herself, Jasmine stops by Sarah's house which also doubles as a residence for old ladies and notices that an elderly frail and confused woman named Alice (Cicely Tyson) is trying to flee from the house. Alice wants to leave, but Jasmine ushers her back inside. Alice reveals that other women have died there, including Shane Fieldman (Jordan's victim from the beginning of the film, and the real photographer behind the exhibition where Grace first met Shannon). Jasmine hears a sound coming from the basement and goes off to investigate. There she discovers there are numerous elderly women all shackled and chained up in the basement. She is grappled from behind, tied up and gagged and locked in a small room. Jordan meanwhile is sent various files to his patrol cars on board computer revealing Sarah's criminal history, and hurriedly goes off in search for his wife. Shannon turns out to be alive and further that he is Sarah's son. Jordan bursts into the house, grapples with Sarah, handcuffs her and then searches for Jasmine as Sarah makes her obvious getaway, albeit cuffed. Jordan and Shannon fight in the darkened basement as Jasmine tries to break free. Shannon is shot at close range three times in the chest by Jasmine who has broken free from her restraints, and is presumably dead, second time around, as a result.

Shortly after, the Police arrive and the elderly ladies are all freed. Grace is released from jail with a full pardon and an apology from the court, and is reunited with her son Malcolm. Jasmine's work on the case is applauded by her colleagues, the media and her boss Rory. Sarah and Shannon’s real names are revealed to be Betty and Maurice Mills, and or the past twenty years the two have been conning older women out of their money and social security across numerous States, and that Maurice is wanted in various States for bigamy.

'A Fall from Grace' certainly grabs the attention from the get go, but, for all the wrong reasons! Jasmine is so half baked, so lacking in confidence, so unwise and unknowing to the point that her ineptitude and just go with the flow attitude is laughable. The story twists and turns verge from the sublime to the ridiculous as Perry seems intent on throwing every conceivable obstacle and plot development at his cast of largely downtrodden Black characters who must have been racing against the clock every time the camera rolled to complete their lines so that the Writer/Director could shout 'cut'. And as for the courtroom drama at the centre of this film, that is delivered in a predictable by the numbers manner that anyone could see coming from ten miles away - there are certainly no surprises here. When the end finally comes it's a hurried affair that quickly lunges into horror territory without delivering on any scares, but by the end of its two hour run time, it can't really come quickly enough. And lets not mention the extras again in the background, or the shonky set design, or the lack of attention to detail that is all heightened by Perry's desire to wrap this shoot in under a week - and it shows!

'A Fall from Grace' merits two claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-