Those Who Wish Me Dead
New Line Cinema | Release Date: May 14, 2021 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
59
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 41 Critic Reviews
Positive:
22
Mixed:
16
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMay 12, 2021
Director Sheridan and his co-writers Charles Leavitt and Michael Koryta (whose novel is the source material) have fashioned a thoroughly engrossing tale filled with memorable characters, dryly funny dialogue and show-stopping, often brutal confrontations in which the weapon of choice varies from semi-automatic firearms to a deer rifle to a fire extinguisher to handguns to an axe to bare fists, depending on the circumstances. Read full review
90
New York Magazine (Vulture)Angelica Jade BastienMay 14, 2021
The neo-Western inflected work is a lean, engrossing, action-packed shot of adrenaline that is striking in its aesthetic decisions and boasts some exceedingly fun turns from its actors. Most important, it proves once more why Jolie is a star. Read full review
86
Paste MagazineJacob OllerMay 12, 2021
The film’s rock-solid survival story is enhanced by its charming ensemble and striking, elegant environment. Read full review
80
Time OutHuw OliverMay 18, 2021
Ridden with flashbacks and with a punchy orchestral score, it’s a thoroughly improbable story of her internal redemption. And it’s largely pretty great. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesJessica KiangMay 14, 2021
An enjoyable, absorbing, characterful testament to shuffling the whole deck of genre conventions, and then politely setting it on fire. Read full review
80
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergMay 13, 2021
New Mexico plays Montana, and not being familiar with the terrain, I was convinced by that. Accurate or not, the landscape gives as sensational a performance as any of the actors. Read full review
80
EmpireChris Hewitt (1)May 12, 2021
A lean and mean throwback of a thriller bolstered by excellent performances and first-class filmmaking. Occasionally bites off more than its CG budget can chew, but when director Taylor Sheridan keeps the action grounded, it’s sweaty palms central. Read full review
74
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzMay 13, 2021
Those Who Wish Me Dead is solid meat-and-potatoes fun – it knows its job, gets it done with minimal fuss and leaves its audiences full and satisfied. Read full review
72
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeMay 12, 2021
The stakes are high and the danger is always imminent in this straightforward thriller; it never bends the rules of the genre, but it certainly delivers on what it promises. Read full review
70
PolygonRoxana HadadiMay 21, 2021
Amid the paper-thin plot, stilted script, inartful editing, and imbalanced character development, Jolie stands unblemished. She isn’t the only good thing about the otherwise rote Those Who Wish Me Dead, but she doesn’t have much competition, either. Read full review
70
Rolling StoneK. Austin CollinsMay 17, 2021
I imagine that, for some, the movie’s structure will play unevenly, seem a little weird in its jumping and drifting. But the contours of this story, and the tinges of genuine melancholy thrown into our path along the way, are very much to the point. They make it all work, and make it worth it. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeMay 12, 2021
As directed by Taylor Sheridan, Those Who Wish Me Dead offers a much bigger sandbox for the gifted actor-turned-action maven, whose scripts for “Sicario” and “Hell or High Water” have launched him to the front of a genre dominated by CG robots, superheroes and other IP once associated with Saturday morning cartoons. Such movies are plenty popular, but this one marks a welcome departure — one intended for grown-ups seeking more “realistic” diversion — without shortchanging audiences when it comes to either spectacle or sound. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyMay 12, 2021
The well-crafted film’s principal arcs may be largely predictable, but it’s an emotionally satisfying and gripping watch. Read full review
67
UproxxVince ManciniMay 25, 2021
It’s a film that seems to go to great pains describing the very specific niche that each character occupies, carefully crafted anecdotes defining attributes ultimately signifying nothing. Detailed information is given, then discarded. It’s almost an anti-movie. Read full review
67
Vanity FairRichard LawsonMay 25, 2021
Those Who Wish Me Dead is missing an act, maybe, some of kind bridge between its drawn-out beginning and its hurried climax. What’s in the film is staged shrewdly by Sheridan, but there’s little sense of cumulative build. Read full review
67
Original-CinLiam LaceyMay 14, 2021
There’s more than an echo here of The Client, the 1993 John Grisham adaptation which saw Susan Sarandon playing a maternal role to Brad Refro’s 11-year-old Mafia witness. But the surrogate mother-child bond barely develops here, as Hannah and Connor leap from one near-death experience to the next in this relatively brisk 100-minute film. Read full review
67
The Film StageChristian GallichioMay 14, 2021
Those Who Wish Me Dead is a violent, enjoyable action film that doesn’t aspire to preach. Instead, the film foregrounds Angelina Jolie reclaiming her title as a preeminent action star, moving at such an energetic speed that by the time you start to think about the sheer insanity of the plot, the credits are already rolling. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerMay 13, 2021
Sheridan's flair has always been in ensembles, but here that trait is caught in a stalemate with the desire to provide an underwhelming Jolie with a star vehicle. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd May 12, 2021
Agreeably straightforward, Those Who Wish Me Dead is also thin as kindling: It threatens to disperse into embers as you watch it. And there are limits to its ruthless economy. For as unsentimental as Sheridan’s approach looks from a distance, everything with Jolie’s anguished Hannah feels hoary and even a touch maudlin. Read full review
67
IndieWireDavid EhrlichMay 12, 2021
Those Who Wish Me Dead might be missing the extra gear required to make it as much of a touchstone for contemporary audiences as the likes of “Executive Decision” or “The River Wild” are for anyone who was saw them in the ‘90s, but watching this kind of film claw its way onto screens at a time when it seems so outmoded is enough to make you happy that it hasn’t been completely killed off yet. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMay 14, 2021
This isn’t Sheridan at his best and, although it may provide Jolie with some exposure outside of voice work and Disney properties, it’s not going to resurrect her career as an action star or a serious actress. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyMay 13, 2021
There’s some scary bad-guy stuff in the movie, but nothing to compare for fearfulness with its climactic forest fire. Read full review
60
Screen RantMae AbdulbakiMay 25, 2021
The characters, in their fight to live another day, and the thrilling, suspenseful sequences are what make the film worth watching. However, Those Who Wish Me Dead could have more thoroughly explored the very details that drove the plot, which would have elevated it beyond a basic action-thriller. Read full review
60
SlashfilmChris EvangelistaMay 12, 2021
Were it just slightly more entertaining we might have something special on our hands. As it is, we have a sturdy, mercifully swift action pic that fizzles out instead of burning bright. It’s nice to have a movie as simple as this for a change, but it would be nicer if it were better. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawMay 12, 2021
It’s a fierce, muscular piece of work, not a million miles from something like the Coens’ No Country for Old Men. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattMay 12, 2021
Unlike Remorse, and other bloody misfires out this month, Dead isn't particularly ugly or offensive; it's engaging enough and sometimes almost unintentionally fun. For a star who so rarely chooses to be on screen these days though, it feels like another kind of mortal sin, at least in Hollywood: forgettable. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreMay 17, 2021
Even the third act fights and shootouts can’t pull Those Who Wish Me Dead back from the you-know-what. Read full review
50
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezMay 15, 2021
As a taut thriller, it works, but the “why” of it all, the substance that generally makes even Sheridan’s worst efforts still fascinating, is strangely and glaringly absent. Read full review
50
ABC NewsPeter TraversMay 15, 2021
Angelina Jolie, back in action mode as a haunted smokejumper seeking redemption, gets the job done if you’re looking for action escapism, but those who wish for something deeper and more resonant are plum out of luck. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyMay 13, 2021
It's been some years since Jolie did an action movie, and she carries the center of Those Who Wish Me Dead. Unfortunately, it's a film with no real center. Read full review
50
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiMay 13, 2021
Despite being a She-Hulk who’s seemingly impervious to physical pain, Jolie turns in her best performance in a while — arguably in over a decade. She’s relaxed, determined and maternal here, and connects well with Little, who is a big talent. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMay 12, 2021
Those Who Wish Me Dead pretty much works on the gut-level way it was intended, but it gets extra credit for being unintentionally funny. Read full review
50
USA TodayBrian TruittMay 12, 2021
[Jolie] does what she can with the throwback role, though it’s the least of the film’s problems, with an unfocused plot, painfully dull villains and far-fetched sequences. That said, for those who dig really cool fire sequences, you’ll definitely feel the burn. Read full review
50
IGNRobert DanielsMay 12, 2021
While there’s plenty of large entertaining set pieces, Sheridan’s intriguing premise withers under its overabundant components. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMay 12, 2021
Really, every actor is likable and, all by themselves, good here. It’s that each situation is more ridiculous than the last and none of it fits together, even when everything gets tossed into the narrative blender toward the end. Read full review
40
The Observer (UK)Simran HansMay 17, 2021
Unfortunately, the second half is over-reliant on flashy disaster set pieces, blazing towards a predictable, melodramatic conclusion. Read full review
40
The TelegraphTim RobeyMay 12, 2021
Billed as a “survival thriller” and starring a weirdly underutilised Angelina Jolie, this is a musty amalgam of fire-fighting action flick, John-Grisham-esque conspiracy hokum and outdoorsy bonding adventure. All it lacks is a web search using Ask Jeeves. Read full review
40
Screen DailyTim GriersonMay 12, 2021
It’s not a good sign that, as the film crosscuts between its different story threads, Jolie’s becomes the least interesting. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineDavid RobbMay 14, 2021
The film half-heartedly teeters between a kinetic action thriller and something a little more low-key. Read full review
30
Film ThreatAlex SavelievMay 17, 2021
It's jaw-dropping how slapdash Sheridan's approach is to what's supposed to be the heart and soul of the story – the bonding between Hannah and Connor. The characters are so cardboard, it's a wonder they don't catch fire. Read full review
25
Washington PostAnn HornadayMay 11, 2021
In Those Who Wish Me Dead, Jolie demonstrates her career-long fascination with action derring-do and physical punishment, to diminishing effect. In this pulpy, borderline laughable genre picture, not even her hair is believable. Read full review
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