EVERY GREAT WRITER HAS A BAD BEGINNING, TAYLOR SHERIDAN WAS NO EXEPTION

🎥🎞️Movie Review🎞️🎥 - WIND RIVER - Amazon Prime - [2017] - Written and Directed by Taylor Sheridan. Starring Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olson, Jon Bernthal, Graham Greene, and Kelsey Asbille. This movie was billed as an answer to the countless numbers of Indigenous Native American women that are reported missing every year in staggering numbers and mysterious circumstances. This was a planned dramatic feature film with a message to open up the investigations to the many missing women who are still missing to this day. If produced right, this movie seemed like it could make make waves in the history, and now urban legend, of why females are missing in the western regions of the United States.

With the recent successes of all of the current writings created by Taylor Sheridan, I decided to do an in-depth look into his career as a writer and filmmaker. First, I was surprised to learn that Sheridan was a film director and that he had an $11 Million film under his belt with a heavy star studded cast. Even though this film had a tremendously dramatic trailer, the film was anything but dramatic and I'm surprised that Sheridan was able to bounce back from the obvious failure of this film. I have to admit, that after watching all of the recent works written by Sheridan already released through streaming services, I was not completely impressed by this film. I truly expected a far better production and message from this film.

THE GOOD - I mentioned that there's a big lineup of infamous actors in this feature film; the talented Elizabeth Olson from the recent fame of "Wanda Vision," Jeremy Renner from the MCU's "Avengers," and the rugged Jon Bernthal from "The Punisher." There's a slight glimpse of the mountainous beauty and vast landscapes of Utah and Wyoming. The film won an award from the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, but I'm not sure why.

THE BAD - Where dramatic films are concerned, this film drags on and on with sketchy pacing and lackluster cinematography. Most of the actors seem to just be on set to earn a check and put no other energy in performing their roles which makes for a lack luster presentation in the final product of the film. The screenplay and editing of the film are almost horrific, giving an almost amateur pacing to the film and not giving a solid development of worry for the story to make its point. The explanation why the FBI sent an agent to help with the investigation of a body being found on Indian territory was very dry and Olson's part of the film feels a little far fetched. Sheridan tries to develop tension in the film, but his limited skill in directing scenes truly makes RIVER seem like a wasted effort in telling a significant story that needs explaining.

POST MORTEM - This film would have better served as a mini-series or maybe a full series production on a streaming service. Furthermore, the opening credits billed this film was a tiny, little look into the disappearance into local women in the Native American culture, but there was no tie to the actual long list of names that have been abruptly removed from the local communities. Sheridan was smart to leave the directing of his scripted creations to the professionals. His other series work wouldn't have been as successful as films and his writings are proving to work on longer running productions. WIND RIVER might have been the awakening that Sheridan needed to focus more on his writing.

⭐️⭐️💫[2.5 of 5 Stars]