Thanks. Was thinking of watching this and almost buying the hype, but it reminds me of a run of the mill, just good film that these days seems better than it actually is since the bar for movies has dropped so low in the last decade. It's like people rating Baby Driver an 8 and mentioning it in the same conversation as Heat. I don't doubt it's pretty good, but I doubt it's anything truly special. It's no Seven I'm sure.

I wouldn't say that this is anything like 7 and it's not really meant to be either. It reminded me of Thunder Heart meets David Fincher in the snow. That being said, I really did enjoy this movie.

@Ajja said:

Huge fan of 'mystery thrillers'

Prisoners Insomia Sicario

To name a few..

Really looking forward to this but slightly disappointed overall a good movie but that's it just good. Felt there was no real mystery behind it and it all got solved rather quickly then resorted to a action scene to finish it off

Looking forward to the snowman next!

I'm glad it was solved, and not trying to be overly complex with an open ending, like every other 2+hr movie is these days. The 1hr 47mins was perfect too. Bring back appropriate film times.

@Heisenberg12 said:

...it reminds me of a run of the mill, just good film that these days seems better than it actually is since the bar for movies has dropped so low in the last decade.

I share the sentiment generally, but actually I think there's a lot to love in this film - beautiful cinematography, good acting, great soundtrack - and as you say, it's so rare for something like this to even get made. Nice to see Renner and Olsen in it too.

I likewise really enjoyed it. Gorgeous scenery. Jeremy was excellent in this. I've known outfitters. He was good. (also my recent MDB discussioncomment -- RIP IMDB).

I'd be interested to know if you guys have seen anything else worthy of recommendation in a similar vein, or just of a 'mystery thriller' type vibe.

Recently I saw and enjoyed What Happened To Monday, May God Forgive Us (spanish), Remember, and The Invisible Guest (spanish). I find there's a real dearth of good crime films these days though.

I'm straining to recall films this year that I've liked and not been disappointed by.

Wind River was not a disappointment for me. Neither was Brawl in Cell Block 99. So that's two.

While it's true Wind River's solution is solved quicker than expected, it's a rather satisfying outcome. Much like "Hell or High Water" crime is not as convoluted as fiction writers make them out to be. Tempers flare, someone gets killed; those responsible find it ain't so easy to hide evidence of their evil deeds.

Where Wind River succeeds is in showing characters as real people, not caricatures of heroes/villains. People who've suffered terrible losses, or are grieving through them past/present. Isolation due to harsh climates. Desolation and ruin brought about by the same, as well as the influence drugs take when few other options exist to relieve the silence and tormenting tedium of hard labor.

@BluHex said:

I'm straining to recall films this year that I've liked and not been disappointed by.

Wind River was not a disappointment for me. Neither was Brawl in Cell Block 99. So that's two.

While it's true Wind River's solution is solved quicker than expected, it's a rather satisfying outcome. Much like "Hell or High Water" crime is not as convoluted as fiction writers make them out to be. Tempers flare, someone gets killed; those responsible find it ain't so easy to hide evidence of their evil deeds.

Where Wind River succeeds is in showing characters as real people, not caricatures of heroes/villains. People who've suffered terrible losses, or are grieving through them past/present. Isolation due to harsh climates. Desolation and ruin brought about by the same, as well as the influence drugs take when few other options exist to relieve the silence and tormenting tedium of hard labor.

I thought this was an excellent film and wasn't disappointed by it either. Like others have said, great acting, cinematography, soundtrack.

I generally agree with what you're saying about crime not being so complex and how it showed how real people lived there. However, as much as I liked the action scene ending, what didn't seem real was how the whole oil rig crew turned out to be a callous, murderous bunch. I get that they're isolated but could this group of blue collar contractors really turn into a pack of wolves, kill one of their own, witness/partake in a rape and then have no issues taking out a group of local law enforcement? I felt that was a bit much.

But hey, I still enjoyed it :)

Hi, cpheonix.

I get what you're saying in your last paragraph; I do think it might've been a bit of a stretch to have that security crew basically go nuts, but only a bit-- it did not stretch the bounds of believability too much; I believe such an event COULD happen, though somewhat unlikely.

Allow me to share something . . .

Back in the early 1970s, my late grandfather was an electrician working on the Alaska pipeline. He was there with hundreds of other tradesmen (and a few women, even back then)-- pipefitters, metalworkers, construction laborers, etc., and they were a really rough bunch. Granddad told me that, at night, back in the barracks (they all lived in large bulk barracks buildings, apparently "open floor plan" with little privacy) strange things went on, card games got violent, and weird things would happen in the bathrooms.

To the day he died, granddad never revealed exactly what these things were, except he told me these vague things with fear in his voice, and not a smile.

The isolation was extreme; his crew each received certificates at the end of the job, keepsakes which stated that they had worked north of the Arctic Circle. He recalls tossing coffee from his cup up into the air, and the coffee drops landing back in the snow, having frozen in mid-air.

One time his crew got really drunk, went out and stood along a tree line, and had a buddy shoot at them with a shotgun to see if the buckshot would fall to the ground before any of them got hit. Fortunately, they were standing far enough away that no one was killed.

But what if someone had been, out in that remote area? Would they have kept it a secret?

No, for me, Wind River was not too beyond the pale as far as believability.

A well-made film. I enjoyed it.

Hi Northcoast, thanks for sharing your granddad's story. Interesting and frightening at the same time! I'm sure he had many more stories to tell.

I guess because I come from a big city the thought of a group of workers all from one company going all murderous on police does not seem real. I dunno, the way they flanked the officers intending to kill them...just didn't seem right. But as I said, that's just me, and I still enjoyed the scene.

we're talking about people living at the edge of society and civilisation... anything can happen...

@Badlands1 said:

@Ajja said:

Huge fan of 'mystery thrillers'

Prisoners Insomia Sicario

To name a few..

Really looking forward to this but slightly disappointed overall a good movie but that's it just good. Felt there was no real mystery behind it and it all got solved rather quickly then resorted to a action scene to finish it off

Looking forward to the snowman next!

I'm glad it was solved, and not trying to be overly complex with an open ending, like every other 2+hr movie is these days. The 1hr 47mins was perfect too. Bring back appropriate film times.

I think that's because this is a movie about characters more than plot. The plot is simple because it's not the point, it's the characters, their motivations, and how they respond to situations.

It's nice to get a well shot, acted, and written film without loads of CGI or quick cutting/shaky cam.

@cpheonix said:

@BluHex said:

I'm straining to recall films this year that I've liked and not been disappointed by.

Wind River was not a disappointment for me. Neither was Brawl in Cell Block 99. So that's two.

While it's true Wind River's solution is solved quicker than expected, it's a rather satisfying outcome. Much like "Hell or High Water" crime is not as convoluted as fiction writers make them out to be. Tempers flare, someone gets killed; those responsible find it ain't so easy to hide evidence of their evil deeds.

Where Wind River succeeds is in showing characters as real people, not caricatures of heroes/villains. People who've suffered terrible losses, or are grieving through them past/present. Isolation due to harsh climates. Desolation and ruin brought about by the same, as well as the influence drugs take when few other options exist to relieve the silence and tormenting tedium of hard labor.

I thought this was an excellent film and wasn't disappointed by it either. Like others have said, great acting, cinematography, soundtrack.

I generally agree with what you're saying about crime not being so complex and how it showed how real people lived there. However, as much as I liked the action scene ending, what didn't seem real was how the whole oil rig crew turned out to be a callous, murderous bunch. I get that they're isolated but could this group of blue collar contractors really turn into a pack of wolves, kill one of their own, witness/partake in a rape and then have no issues taking out a group of local law enforcement? I felt that was a bit much.

But hey, I still enjoyed it :)

I basically agree with your whole post. I had the same sense that you had, that this scenario seemed to stretch credulity a bit much for me. Specifically, the idea that a whole group of blue collar roughnecks would, as a group, decide to murder law enforcement officials, and to do so apparently without reservation. Could it happen? Sure, a group of bad men could sign on for work together. I say bad men, because I don't see your run of the mill blue collar roughnecks as likely to murder law enforcement agents without compunction like that. They would have to be men who were already bad, who were already accustomed to murder. That COULD happen...but it would be a remarkable situation I think. It is one thing to kill someone in a fit of rage, or in self defense. It is something else entirely to conspire to murder people, especially law enforcement officers or agents, with all the complications that would bring.

Still, my perspective is that of a law abiding citizen. I think most people have a strong perception bias. We tend to subconsciously assume most people are similar to us and to those we are familiar with. This is what makes us easy prey for con-men and other criminals. [Cops who must interact with criminals on a regular basis sometimes develop a different sort of perception bias. Sometimes they become very jaded and perceive the worst in people, or at least develop a need to verify everything and not give their trust freely. That is not always a bad thing, provided it isn't an extreme viewpoint.] So it is natural for me to think the behavior of the workers in this film is a bit over the top.

I've had a few experiences which opened my eyes to certain realities, things which I would have discounted out of hand previous to those experiences. I learned things, saw things. If I relate some of them to people, their gut reaction is that I am either deluded, lying, or something like that. And that is what I would have thought. So I don't talk about those things. The truth can sometimes seem more strange than fiction. It depends on your frame of reference.

Bottom line: I also thought that a whole group of clue collar workers going rouge and trying to kill those lawmen (and woman) seemed over the top. But I have to keep in mind that there are people like that. And it's possible that a group of them wound up working together, and made things uncomfortable for anyone who did not share their penchant for criminal behavior. I have seen that happen.

I love this film for many reasons. It's not an overly complicated film. But it is well done. The land is starkly beautiful. Winter here is harsh and unforgiving. I love the outdoors, and I love tough isolated lifestyle of those living far from civilization. The cast is very good, the acting also. I don't need a surprise twist in a detective plot in order to enjoy a show, so it doesn't bother me at all that this one doesn't have that. The things which make this film different make it more enjoyable to me.

I am frankly tired of the 'action/mystery' movies and the familiar formulas and techniques employed in them. I am tired of the rapid shift of camera perspectives used to simulate fighting action, the 70's car chase scenes, or 'fast n furious' types of car chase stunt segments with their blaring music. Pharmaceutical companies, oil companies, preachers, and social conservatives are so frequently employed as the villains in films that it's beyond boring now. Films today are frequently just heavy handed agenda driven platforms.

This film tells a story about the brutal rape of an Indian girl, and the murder of her boyfriend. The crimes were committed by a group of bad men, motivated by lust and power. We see the actions of a few dedicated, over worked, law officers trying to solved the crimes and bring the perpetrators to justice, and a civilian tracker contracted to help the law. It pushes no hidden or thinly veiled agenda.
It's just a story, set in the modern west, about human nature, crime, and justice.