Entertainment

‘Wind River’ Is A Criminally Underrated Film

Wind River (Credit: Screenshot/YouTube Movieclips Trailers)

David Hookstead Sports And Entertainment Editor
Font Size:

“Wind River” recently hit theaters, and it might be one of the most criminally underrated films ever produced.

I went to catch a Sunday afternoon showing today with a couple buddies. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but my expecations were sky high. The team behind this modern Western film is the same team behind “Sicario” and “Hell or High Water” — two great films that’d I’d recommend to everybody.

I was also extra interested in seeing it because the plot unfolds in Wyoming and on the local indian reservation of Wind River. I spent some substantial time in Montana, and I’m a sucker for anything that involves the mountains and the West.

My expectations were blown away despite the fact that I went into the theater already expecting the film to be incredible.

The plot follows local hunter Corey Lambert, played by the electric Jeremy Renner, and FBI agent Jane Banner, who is played by Elizabeth Olsen. The duo hunts for the suspects behind a gruesome crime after Lambert stumbles upon a dead Native American teenager.

The film is one of the most accurate depictions of the American West that I’ve ever seen. People out there are cut from a different cloth. They’re bred with a natural toughness most people in America can’t even begin to understand, and the film does an impressive job of conveying it on screen.

The climax of the movie had the entire theater on the edge of their seats. I won’t spoil anything, but it is a hurricane of action.

So, why isn’t this film more popular? All the reviews are incredible, but the film has grossed less than a million dollars so far. Who ever was responsible for promoting this awesome movie should be fired and banned from ever working in Hollywood again. This movie is going to win a ton of awards. It is one of the most marketable movies I’ve ever seen, and yet, few people even know it’s playing.

I guess most people are content being spoon-fed whatever is most popular at the time. However, people should ignore anything else in theaters right now because “Wind River” is an insane journey through a bleak Western indian reservation. I was upset at times, I was bewildered, I was disappointed, I wanted justice, and I wanted to see the bad guys get what they had coming to them. There are few movies that can take a viewer on a ride that covers so much.

I’ll never understand why everybody isn’t rushing out to see this movie. It’s 100 percent a must-watch film.

Follow David on Twitter