Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan has directed three feature films to date. While Wind River is head and shoulders above the others, the 2021 action-thriller Those Who Wish Me Dead, starring Angelina Jolie as professional smokejumper Hannah Faber, is an absorbing piece of throwback entertainment that recalls ’90s Hollywood action movies. For outdoor enthusiasts seeking visceral thrills, Those Who Wish Me Dead is the perfect film.
Co-starring Jon Bernthal, Finn Little, Aidan Gillen, Nicholas Hoult, Jake Weber, and Tyler Perry, Those Who Wish Me Dead is not only a wildly engaging thriller, but it also proves that Sheridan is capable of directing mature action fare on a modest budget. Despite earning middling reviews and doing average business at the box office, Those Who Wish Me Dead warrants another look.
‘Those Who Wish Me Dead’ Is an Engaging Action Thriller
Based on the 2014 novel by Michael Koryta, Those Who Wish Me Dead is a throwback American action thriller starring the luminous Angelina Jolie. The Oscar-winning actor plays Hannah Faber, a pro smoke-jumper in Park County, Montana, reeling over the recent death of three colleagues she feels responsible for. To those who are unaware, a smokejumper is a highly trained firefighter who parachutes into remote, hazardous areas and extinguishes massive blazes.
As Hannah monitors her lookout tower deep in the woods, the plot thickens with the arrival of the father-son duo, Owen (Weber) and Cooper Casserly (Little). The two are on the run from assassins, Jack (Gillen) and Patrick (Hoult), following the death of Jack’s boss in Florida, and attempt to hide out with Owen’s brother, Ethan (Bernthal). Once Cooper is separated from his father, he runs into the woods and is rescued by Hannah, who must fend off the two assassins, keep the boy safe, and avoid a massive wildfire started by the hitmen.
Just as Taylor Sheridan’s script for Hell or High Water fit like a cozy old coat — a well-worn genre outing that never strayed outside the boundaries of the heist genre — Those Who Wish Me Dead is pure comfort viewing for ’90s action movie fans. It may not challenge conventions or push the action-thriller genre into daring new territory, but for what the movie intends to bring, it more than delivers.
Why ‘Those Who Wish Me Dead’ Deserves a Second Look
Financially speaking, Those Who Wish Me Dead hardly broke even at the box office. The film grossed $23 million globally on an estimated budget of $20 million (via The Numbers). Digging deeper, the movie performed twice as well overseas ($16.1 million), earning double what it made domestically ($7.4 million). For a genuinely thrilling action movie featuring an incendiary turn by one of the greatest movie stars of the 21st century, it’s a shame more people haven’t seen the movie.
Indeed, the primary reason to watch the film is the excellent cast, led by Angelina Jolie’s magnetic performance. In the age of streaming, where there are no real movie stars left (ask Sean Penn), Jolie’s starry, emotionally involved performance also recalls a better time in cinema in the 1990s.
Interestingly enough, Sheridan was not the original choice to direct the film. He was recruited to rewrite the script, and when the original director dropped out, Sheridan told the producers, “If I can get Angie to do this with me, I’ll direct it for you.” With little faith, the studio retorted with, “Great, you’ll never get Angie (via Slash Film).
But it’s not just Jolie who excels here. As always, Jon Bernthal gives a memorable turn, this time as a good-hearted park ranger, while Hoult and Gillen play the assassins with gleeful terror. Without these convincing performances, the explosive set pieces and visceral blazes would not be nearly as effective.
To this end, another reason why Those Who Wish Me Dead feels like a thriller from a different era is the setting and realistic production design. The production designers outfitted a massive woodland setpiece with genuine explosives, and it was set on fire for real. Professional firefighters remained on set to monitor the safety of the explosion and contain it from spreading, with Jolie on hand to learn about the dangers of smokejumping. Aside from a few noticeable computer-generated flames, Those Who Wish Me Dead delivers fiery jolts of thrilling intensity that many streaming movies lack these days.
How and Where To Watch ‘Those Who Wish Me Dead’
For the longest time, Those Who Wish Me Dead was available to stream on Netflix. Sadly, that is no longer the case. To be very clear, the movie is not available to stream on any major subscription platform at the time of this writing. The only way to watch Those Who Wish Me Dead at home in 2025 is to rent or purchase it from various outlets.
For instance, HD versions of Those Who Wish Me Dead are available to rent on Plex for $2.99 and on Spectrum for $3.99. Those looking for 4K versions of the movie can rent it on Amazon for $3.79 and on Apple TV and Fandango At Home for $3.99. Those interested in purchasing Those Who Wish Me Dead also have a few options. 4K versions of the movie are available to buy for $6.99 on Amazon, Apple TV, and Fandango At Home.
Despite its current streaming unavailability, Those Who Wish Me Dead is a worthy endeavor for Sheridan fans, Jolie followers, and those who love old-school, outdoor action movies. It may not add much new to the genre, but for its aimed target, Those Who Wish Me Dead strikes the bullseye with visceral, old-fashioned intensity.