WIND RIVER

Jeremy Renner     Elizabeth Olsen     Jon Bernthal     Martin Sensmeier     Julia Jones

      Taylor Sheridan (writer, director) is an artist who knows how to draw out the best from the other artists in his films—Cinematographer Ben Richardson, Musician Warren Ellis, Actors Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen and the rest of the cast, Production Designer Neil Spisak, Art Designer Lauren Slatten, and the other technical contributors.  Wind River represents a breathtaking example of the essence of accomplished filmmaking, from the sweeping snow-laden landscapes stained with blood, to the haunting musical score paired exactly with the dialog and action, to Renner’s wise old soul with extra sensory perception and gentle touch, and Olsen’s expert urban-trained FBI agent clearly not prepared for the different environment and population, but willing to learn.  There is even an exquisite/troubling blending of stunning beauty and unspeakable horror.

     I was especially impressed with cinematography that has the camera slink around with Cory tracking footprints in the snow, and guiding the eye upward or downward toward whatever it wants you to see.  A view to admire is one shot from an airplane over a snowy, mountainous landscape, showing lumbering trucks on the highway bearing heavy snowmobiles.  This prepares us for a showdown.

     One would like to imagine that the pristine snowscapes we admire on the screen (as we sit in our toasty, comfortable theater seats) would hold innocence and purity and be reflected in fit bodies and souls.  But alas, just as we hear about the brutal attack by a lion on a herd of cattle, we see a fallen human body in the snow with a head wound and blood coming out her mouth.  Tracker Cory (Renner) sadly knows who it is, which provokes memories of an earlier death that still tears at him.

     Cory is a good man, a respected local who, even without the memories, would willingly help FBI agent Banner (Olsen) who has been called in to solve the case.  These sequences constitute the few scenes tinged with humor, when the agent comes totally unprepared for the bone-chilling weather and has to borrow warm clothing from the sheriff’s stern wife.  (“Make sure you return it!”)  Later encounters with the locals are likewise amusing when Banner meets native Indians, unwittingly offending them, and roughnecks working on an oil drill.  Cory and the sheriff wryly get her up to speed from time to time, and she shows flashes of leadership and strength.  (I wish Sheridan had made her character much stronger, as many filmmakers are willing to do with females nowadays…but maybe this is happening only in action figures a la Wonder Woman, Atomic Blonde, and Valerian/City/Thousand/Planets?)

     This beautifully made film has substantive points to make as well as depth of character.  It’s about loss and death—especially of children—and the multifarious ways in which people cope with it; life on an Indian reservation (this part is not fiction); the nefarious effects of drugs on young people; the art of skillful, informed sleuthing and interrogation; and, finally, how satisfying justified retribution can be. 

Be prepared for an extravaganza of beauty in all its forms mixed with the realities of life lived.

Grade:  A                                    By Donna R. Copeland

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

Denzel Washington   Chris Pratt   Ethan Hawke   Vincent D’Onofrio   Haley Bennett  

Peter Sarsgaard   Byung-hun Lee   Manuel Garcia-Rulfo   Martin Sensmeier

          A motley group of seven men recruited one by one by a Kansas Warranty Officer Chisolm (Washington) band together to rescue a farming town from the evil miner Bartholomew Bogue (Sarsgaard), who wants their land and is willing to give them only a pittance for it and simply kill them if they refuse.  Chisolm is retained by Emma Cullen (Bennett), whose husband was one of those killed, but he agrees only after she gives him a significant bit of information. 

          Gradually, Chisolm meets up with a few malcontents who join him for one reason or another:  card shark/gambler/trickster Faraday (Pratt), haunted sharp shooter Robicheaux (Hawke), tracker-with-a-tomahawk Horne (D’Onofrio), knife-wielding assassin Billy Rocks (Lee), Mexican outlaw on the run Vasquez (Garcia-Rulfo), and Comanche arrows and bullets sharp shooter Red Harvest (Sensmeier).  These guys are not only colorful in their backgrounds, they bring much of the humor of the movie (sometimes a bit corny), presumably to balance the extreme violence shown in the film.  All these actors are superb in their roles, and elevate the film above the mundane script.

          Chisolm sends the cowardly sheriff (Dane Rhodes) to take the message to Bogue that the townsmen will not give up without a fight, and that he and his men will be defending them.  When Bogue learns there are only seven defenders, he thinks it will be a piece of cake.  His lackeys put together a small army, and head toward the town.  But Chisolm is a strategist who is able to anticipate his enemy’s maneuvers, and has made detailed plans involving explosive booby traps, trenches, placements of shooters, and even weapons training for the locals.  The battle that ensues is bloody and long, complicated by a ferocious weapon mercilessly fired by Bogue.

          This remake of two earlier films considered masterful, one in 1954 (Seven Samurai) by Akira Kurosawa, legendary Japanese filmmaker, and one in 1960 (The Magnificent Seven) by John Sturges seems unnecessary.  There could have been more updates, such as modernizing and making more realistic—even for the 19^th Century—the Bennett character Emma.  For example, she defended the town admirably and saved Chisolm’s life, but he didn’t even thank her; instead, he took her gun away from her.  The filmmakers made sure that we would see her cry more than once, just to emphasize once again the stereotypical female.  Here’s a thought:  Include her and call the film The Magnificent Eight. 

          Musician James Horner should be acknowledged for his contribution to this film.  He had made considerable progress on the score, but died before the work was completed, so Simon Frangien was enlisted to complete it.  Mauro Fiore’s cinematography does justice to the exquisite western landscape, and his filming of the action scenes is artistic, as is the usual for him.

For western fans not bothered by mediocre remakes, this will hold your attention.

Grade:  C                                 By Donna R. Copeland