Those Who Wish Me Dead

 ... are going to have to wait their turn.

(Hi.)

Anyway, Those Who Wish Me Dead is anything but boring. Michael Koryta adapted his novel with Charles Leavitt and director Taylor Sheridan into screenplay form. Let's discuss the end result.

Most boys Connor Casserly's (Finn Little) age might like to play hooky. But he's understandably surprised when his dad, Owen (Jake Weber), makes him skip school for an indefinite family trip. Mr. Casserly, an accountant, found some unspecified dirt on kingpin Arthur Phillip (Tyler Perry). His assassins, brothers Jack and Patrick Blackwell (Aiden Gillen and Nicholas Hoult), are in pursuit. The Blackwells finally get Owen in the Montana woods, but Connor escapes with the dirt. The Blackwells need to get the police off their backs. So Jack sets the forest on fire. 

An act that's sure to get police attention.

Meanwhile, Connor runs into smokejumper Hannah Farber (Angelina Jolie). Hannah is still traumatized by an earlier blaze that killed another firefighter and three stray campers. Connor reluctantly accepts her help to get in touch with civilization. They'll have to move fast to avoid the rapidly growing blaze. Oh yeah, and the Blackwells too.

The first half hour alternates between the Casserlys, the Blackwells, Hannah and Deputy Sheriff Ethan (Jon Bernthal) and his wife, Allison (Medina Senghore), who also get involved in the search for Connor. The storylines are not boring, but they're a bit slow. Hannah and Connor don't meet until a half hour into the 100 minute runtime. Their relationship is good but it could've been stronger had they met about ten minutes sooner. Allison and Ethan's relationship is great; overall, Allison is the best of the heroes.

The plot gets going good when the forest fire starts. The technical crew - editor Chad Galster, cinematographer Ben Richardson, the sound designers and visual effects team - create a formidable natural threat. Add in Brian Tyler's score and it's a strong disaster thriller. 

The Blackwells are memorable villains. They're anything but subtle; the sort who'd run a pest control service by blowing up houses. Their first act is to blow up a house, by the way, but they pretend to be gas company guys. They're Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men if he was a supervillain. They're both smug and detestable all the way through. One example is their torture of Allison. But it's still exciting to see her scorch Jack with an improvised blowtorch. She also personally kills him later. In fact, anytime the heroes clobber the Blackwells is a good time.

Those Who Wish Me Dead is still available on HBOMax for about two more weeks. Hurry up and see it in the biggest screen in your house. It's also in theaters if you're ready for them. Whichever medium suits you best is worth it. Its story isn't complex but it's still intense. You'll find a lot to like in its unusual mix of disaster and action movies.