Summary
- The reason Connor is targeted for assassination is because his father, Owen, discovered evidence of a contract hit and was killed for it.
- Ethan and Allison Sawyer are unsung heroes in the film, with Allison showing heroic courage and Ethan ultimately sacrificing himself to protect Hannah and Connor.
- Hannah, Connor, and Allison survive the ordeal and plan to ensure that Owen’s death was not in vain by exposing the assassins’ employers.
Directed by Taylor Sheridan, Those Who Wish Me Dead is an action-thriller released to above-average reviews in May 2021. Adapted from the Michael Koryta novel of the same name, the story revolves around Hannah Faber (Angelina Jolie), a professional smokejumper reeling over her failure to rescue three campers from a forest fire. Hannah is given a shot at redemption when she encounters a teenager named Connor (Finn Little) on the run in the Montana wild, who is targeted by a pair of assassins named Jack (Aiden Gillen) and Patrick (Nicholas Hoult) as another raging wildfire surrounds the area.
Fusing disaster thriller elements with a classic stalk-and-chase thriller, Those Who Wish Me Dead careens down a few twists and turns toward the movie’s end that may have left some viewers wondering what it all meant. After all, the incendiary action and high-octane pacing make the finale of the film somewhat difficult to track all the moving parts. For those unsure of what transpires, please don’t fret, it’s time to explain in detail what occurs at the end of Those Who Wish Me Dead.
Why Connor is Targeted for Assassination
To understand the ending of Those Who Wish Me Dead, it’s vital to grasp the story’s setup. The reason Hannah Faber meets a teenage boy named Connor in the Montana forest relates to his father, Owen Casserly (Jake Weber). Owen is a forensic auditor from Florida who learns that the death of his boss was the result of a contract hit. Owen realizes that his life has been targeted next and decides to flee from the assassins by taking his son, Connor, into the Montana wild.
Once Owen and Connor reach Park County, Montana, the assassins Jack and Patrick catch up with the duo and kill Owen. Before he dies, Owen gives Connor the incriminating evidence against the assassins’ boss. Connor flees into the forest and ultimately encounters Hannah, a smokejumper who vows to protect the boy. Hannah takes Owen to her fire tower to call for help. However, a lightning strike has destroyed her communication system and the assassins start a wildfire that engulfs the area. Despite the raging fire, the assassins are ordered by their boss to kill Connor and retrieve the incriminating evidence in his possession. The underrated Angelina Jolie movie then takes a turn to highlight the supporting characters.
Ethan & Allison Sawyer are the Unsung Heroes
Although Hannah triumphs in ultimate glory in the end, Ethan (Jon Bernthal) and Allison Sawyer (Medina Senghore) are two unsung heroes in the film. Ethan Sawyer is the brother-in-law of Owen and the deputy sheriff in Park County. Allison is Owen’s pregnant wife. Once Jack and Patrick go to the Sawyers’ house to find Connor and interrogate Allison, where she shows her heroic courage by fending off the assassins, fleeing into the woods, and signaling Ethan with a distress call on her phone.
Once Ethan receives a distress call from his wife, he and the sheriff check on her at the Sawyer home. Jack and Patrick ambush the two police officers, kill the sheriff, and force Ethan to flee into the woods. Meanwhile, the raging fire has prevented Hannah and Connor from reaching town on foot, and they are forced to return to Hannah’s fire tower. At the fire tower, the assassins arrive, prompting Hannah and Connor to hide. Ethan pretends to search the empty tower, but when he’s overheard speaking to someone, the assassins lace the tower in a hail of gunfire. While Ethan sustains a gunshot wound, Hannah and Connor manage to escape into the woods.
Does Ethan Survive?
The loose narrative ties written by Taylor Sheridan in the film are tied together in a taut and gripping finale that gives Hannah, Connor, and Allison a sense of redemption. After the assassins shoot up the fire tower and injure Ethan, Hannah and Connor escape into the woods. The assassins attempt to follow, but Allison arrives, shoots at them, and distracts their pursuit. Patrick goes after Hannah and Connor, while Jack remains behind to fight Allison. During the skirmish, Allison kills Jack, leaving only Patrick alive as he continues to look for Hannah and Connor.
Patrick eventually finds Hannah and Connor in the woods as the fire blazes. Connor runs away, yet returns to protect Hannah after Patrick threatens to kill her. Just as Patrick is about to murder Connor, Hannah brutally stabs Patrick with a climbing ax in the nick of time and leaves him to burn to death in the wildfire. As the flames continue to spread, Hannah, Connor, and Allison seek refuge in Hannah’s fire tower. Alas, when the fire threatens to reach them, Allison stays behind to be with Ethan and the married couple puts on oxygen masks to prevent smoke inhalation. Meanwhile, Hannah and Connor leap into a river below.
The movie ends with Hannah’s smokejumping team rescuing her, Connor, and Allison as the Montana forest lies in smoldering ash. Although the trio survives, Ethan dies from his gunshot wound. The forgotten Angelina Jolie movie’s final moments depict Connor willing to hand over the incriminating evidence against the assassins’ employers to the media. Hannah vows to help guide Connor to navigate his future and ensure that his father Owen does not die in vain. The title Those Who Wish Me Dead directly refers to Connor’s existential threat in the story, not necessarily Hannah’s, which is a bit of a shock considering the movie functions best as an Angelina Jolie action vehicle. Yet, in the end, Hannah, Connor, and Allison each complete their redemptive arcs through sacrificial acts of bravery and heroism.
Those Who Wish Me Dead is available to stream on Netflix & Max
