Those Who Wish Me Dead Parent Guide

Smokejumping is a dangerous business. Parachuting into deadly fires with limited equipment can be fatal, and Hannah’s (Angelina Jolie) team lost several colleagues on their last jump. Still struggling with the trauma of the event, Hannah is reassigned to a remote fire tower until she can pass a psychiatric evaluation and return to work.

When young Connor (Finn Little) turns up outside her tower, bloodied and terrified, Hannah is drawn into a much more dangerous situation. Connor is a witness to murder and possesses information which threatens some very powerful people, who have sent two assassins (Aiden Gillen and Nicholas Hoult) to chase him all the way to the Montana wilderness and silence him. With Hannah to steer him through the deadly woods, he has a good chance of making it out alive…until the fire starts. With an uncontrolled wildfire on one side and murderous goons on the other, it’s going to take a miracle to come out alive on the other side.

I will admit, I was a little worried about this movie. Films that rely so heavily on child actors are taking a big gamble. While child actors are infinitely better now than they were in, say, the 60’s and 70’s, it’s a lot of pressure to put on a kid. Finn Little, however, exceeded my expectations and keeps this thriller on its feet. The rest of the cast certainly helps, with big names like Angelina Jolie, Jon Bernthal, Aiden Gillen, and Nicholas Hoult to round out the production.

As someone who lives in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains, I can tell you that these big forest fires are terrifying. If you’ve seen the news footage from California’s Camp fire in 2018 or Canada’s Fort McMurray wildfire in 2016, you know what I mean. A big fire moves fast, and it’s a smart, unpredictable element to add to a thriller.

Obviously, this is a poor choice for children. With 76 “f-bombs” in a 100 minute movie, there is likely more profanity here than even some adult audiences can stand. There is also the issue of burning alive, which is a particularly gruesome way to die. Although the movie doesn’t show this in graphic detail, there’s more than enough to gross you right out. And that’s before we get to cold-blooded murder.

That being said, this is a very capable thriller. It doesn’t reach the heights of some of director/writer Taylor Sheridan’s earlier work, but it can still hold its own against plenty of other entries in the genre. If you’re looking for danger, intrigue, and excitement, Those Who Wish Me Dead has plenty – if you can stomach the content, that is.