Anyone watch this one this weekend? Streaming on HBO Max and in theaters too I think. From Taylor Sheridan and starring Angelina Jolie, Jon Berenthal, Nicholas Hoult, and Aiden Gillen.
Definitely the most disappointing movie I've seen from Sheridan, although it's not what I would consider bad. I thought the performances were fine, setting is beautiful in true Sheridan fashion, and there are some fun parts to it. Plot is pretty ridiculous though and it doesn't have the typical spark we're used to seeing that sets his movies apart from the rest.
Lots of changes from the book, and very few of them for the better in my opinion.
Book spoilers below:
In the books, Connor's family doesn't have anything to do with the crime. He just witnesses the brothers commit murder and dump the body, so they're after him specifically. Ethan (Jon B.) is a survival expert who runs a camp for troubled youth in the mountains, and Connor gets sent there to hide him due to a connection with Ethan and a US Marshall. These are the two biggest changes for me that I think made the movie worse. Instead of getting Connor some time with Ethan to learn about surviving and being on the mountain and not having him deal with watching his father murdered right in front of him, instead of having some scared sad kid who's carrying a McGuffin of a note in his pocket would be a lot better in my opinion. Then he could join up with Hannah and you could keep most things unchanged.
A couple of other changes I hated to see was Hannah surviving instead of sacrificing herself for Connor and Allison by putting them in her fire tent. And I hated that we didn't get the twist of the US Marshall who claims to be Connor's mom, but ends up being the assassins sister.
Anyway, it's fine to throw on the tv if you've got HBO Max, but not worth planning an evening around or going to the theaters for, in my opinion.
