If you spotted Hannah in her typical setting—like, say, when she’s sitting around, cursing, drinking and cracking crude jokes with her firefighter coworkers—you might not be all that impressed by her. And if you saw her opening a parachute in the back of speeding pickup (after more drinking hijinx) to go flying off the side of the road, well, you’d probably think she was just a few hoses shy of a full firetruck.
And you’d be right in some ways.
In truth, Hannah is a bit damaged. She knows her firefighting stuff. But her failure a few years ago to save three kids in the midst of a raging conflagration scarred her in ways flames never could. Now, she tries to stamp out her smoldering feelings of guilt in sometimes risky, sometimes crazy ways.
When she spots a bloodied kid named Connor out in the forest near the fire tower where she’s stationed, however, she doesn’t do anything risky or crazy. Her first instinct is to get to and protect this 10-year-old with everything she’s got.
Problem is, a lightning strike took out her radio. And she doesn’t have a vehicle to drive to the nearest town. Connor reports that two men with guns killed his father, and they’re looking for him. Oh, and there’s a forest fire heading in their direction as well.
It’s starting to look like a little risk-taking will be an absolute necessity in this case. Hannah is going to need to do something a little crazy if she and this frightened boy hope to survive.
Several people put their lives on the line to protect others. Hannah, for instance, risks being struck by lightning, uses all of her skills to navigate through a forest fire and even goes toe-to-toe with a trained killer to keep Connor safe. Other characters also put themselves in the line of fire and lose their lives in an effort to give people a chance for escape.
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While building a small campfire, Hannah tells young Connor that campfires will later lead him to “swapping spit with a cheerleader.” After being burned and bloodied by a lightning strike, Hannah changes clothes. We see her in her bra as she slips into a clean shirt.
The two hired killers are, not surprisingly, quite brutal in their work. With practiced skill, they riddle various people with bullets; splatter an innocent woman’s brains across the inside of a car (the camera observes her pulped-out head); blow up a house and its occupants; and beat both Hannah and a pregnant woman named Allison.
Both women are pummeled and thrown around. A heated fireplace poker is used to torment Allison. And in Hannah’s case, a man batters her, then pins her down and viciously punches her in the face repeatedly. Hannah’s hands, feet and upper body are also burned and shredded in the course of fiery events.
Several people get shot in the back and shoulders, leaving bloody wounds. Someone ignites an aerosol can’s spray and uses it as a blowtorch on a man’s face, leaving him singed and blistered. A guy gets stabbed in the neck, back and stomach with the pick-like point of a climber’s ax. We see two different men catch on fire and burn to death. Repeated flashbacks focus in on three teens screaming and unable to escape a raging forest fire.
Young Connor gets repeatedly cut and bloodied. His forehead is cut in a car crash. He and Hannah barely avoid being burned alive in a forest fire by submerging in a creek and taking small sips of air while an intense fire burns overhead.
More than 70 f-words and 15 s-words are joined by multiple uses of “b–tard,” “a–hole” and “d–k.” Jesus’ and God’s names are both misused two or three times each (with the latter combined with “d–n” twice).
Hannah and a small group of firefighters drink booze and get a bit tipsy and raucus. They also drink beer in a bar with other bar patrons. Hannah drinks booze from a flask in her watch tower. A guy puffs a vaping pen.
We eventually learn that the killing spree at the center of the film is connected to powerful and corrupt politicians.
Those Who Wish Me Dead is a very one-dimensional film. It pits out-of-their-depth good guys against pitiless, seasoned killers. It invites viewers to watch as, one-by-one, people die in grisly, viscera-splattering ways.
Yes, there are some save-the-innocent-kid exploits to celebrate here. There’s a believable raging fire for the actors to navigate. And young actor Finn Little is remarkably convincing as he shed a sooty tear.
But the film barely scratches the surface of any of the characters in the mix (unless you’re counting Angelina Jolie’s bruised, beaten and deeply scratched face). There are quite a few story threads left hanging by movie’s end. And when you soak the whole thing with a firehose blast of f-bomb-laden language, well, things just don’t end up feeling very heroic … or exciting … or watchable.
To put it bluntly, this is the kind of film that will flash-burn today and be forgotten in a puff of smoke tomorrow.
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
