Sometimes a film with great cinematography a beautiful landscape isn't enough to keep my attention.
"Wind River" is about Cory Lambert, played by Jeremy Renner, who is a tracker and wildlife expert living in Wyoming. Lambert finds a dead body, which prompts a rookie FBI Agent, played by Elizabeth Olsen, to come investigate. After seeing Lambert's skills, he is recruited to help solve the murder.
Renner's accent is kind of botched in this film. All the Wyomingites talk very softly and somewhat muffled, which makes it hard to understand what many of the people are talking about. Renner does a passable job, but it wasn't always convincing. In fact, until the end, I thought his performance was mediocre. I didn't like the personality of the character Olsen played, but she did a much better job in her role.
To be honest, I thought the first hour or so of "Wind River" was pretty underwhelming. Not much happens, and many of the actors use very subdued performances. There was one big sequence where the situation became intense, but the events and style made the film boring.
"Wind River" seems to be no fun whatsoever. I know that the tone is supposed to be serious and bleak, but the acting is so dry, and the landscape is too simplistic. Even though the nature is gorgeous, the bland color palette doesn't really complement the depressing and intense story. This film needed to be darker or have a different element to engage the audience. The repressed emotions in the performances weigh the film down because the viewers can't feel anything.
Also, this plot is actually somewhat predictable for a thriller. I could see where the film was going for almost the entire runtime, which isn't good because the plot is the most important aspect for engaging the audience in a film like this. There's not much intellectually going on under the surface, and most of the characters are very blatant in their traits.
Even though "Wind River" was disappointing for a majority of the runtime, everything started picking up in the third act. This is when the film started taking some chances and became more personable, which earned my attention back. The last 30 minutes or so are actually pretty great, with a lot more emotion and compelling performances. However, when looking at the piece as a whole, I can't say the overall experience was a positive one for me.
"Wind River" is a mystery movie that will most likely not go down as one of the greats. I believe a lot of people that saw the film enjoyed it, but there's quite a bit holding this one back. That being said, the ending was very powerful, and you will most likely enjoy "Wind River" if you are a fan of tense crime-thrillers.
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