Before Yellowstone earned him the title of TV’s cowboy king, Taylor Sheridan was already carving out his place in the modern Western canon. After penning the gritty crime thrillers Sicario and Hell or High Water, he came up with yet another compelling film — Wind River. The film itself is a bone-chilling murder mystery set on a remote Native American reservation.
Starring Jeremy Renner as a tracker with a past that just wouldn’t let him be present and Elizabeth Olsen as an out-of-her-depth FBI agent, the film doesn’t lean on shootouts and sheriffs, but rather transports viewers into the real-life epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Inspired by true events, Wind River explores the kind of silence that lets those crimes go unnoticed. Tense, heartbreaking, and quietly furious, Sheridan’s film closes out his “American frontier” trilogy with a gut punch you won’t soon forget.
How ‘Wind River’ Delivers an Unforgettable Thriller Experience
Wind River doesn’t waste time glazing over the dark stuff, it kicks off with 18-year-old Natalie Hanson (Kelsey Asbille) running barefoot across a frozen Wyoming landscape, terrified and alone. Soon enough, her body is discovered by Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner), a local tracker who’s out hunting mountain lions near his father-in-law’s ranch on the Wind River Reservation. To investigate the entire ordeal, the FBI sends out Elizabeth Olsen’s Jane Banner, who’s not just green but also clearly not dressed, or mentally prepared, for the harsh reality she’s about to face. What starts as a murder case quickly delves into the very real and often-ignored crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women.
Now, it’s safe to say that this isn’t a usual crime thriller, in fact, it goes out of its way to be grounded in reality. Cory’s not some action-movie tough guy, he’s simply a dad who’s still grieving the loss of his daughter. In a way, helping figure out what happened to Natalie is less about justice and more about trying to make peace with something that still hurts. Even more, Jane’s not your typical “FBI agent with all the answers”. It’s glaring that she’s way in over her head and not used to life in a cold wilderness. Nevertheless, she puts her best foot forward, but the movie doubles down on the fact that good intentions don’t magically fix broken systems. By the time viewers find out what happened to Natalie, it’s emotionally unnerving. Then there’s that oil rig scene that goes from tense standoff to one of the wildest, most intense shootouts in any modern thriller. Clearly Sheridan aims to wholeheartedly dig into the ugly truth. So when Ben, the tribal cop, tells Jane, “This isn’t the land of backup… this is the land of: you’re on your own,” it’s not just a dramatic line — it’s the reality. For a lot of women on these reservations, no one’s coming to help, and Wind River doesn’t let you forget that.
Why ‘Wind River’ Deserves More Recognition
When a film hits as many brick walls as Wind River did and still does pretty well for itself, clearly it’s doing something right. The film itself was originally supposed to be distributed by The Weinstein Company, but that deal fell apart fast once Harvey Weinstein’s abuse scandal came to light. Lionsgate stepped in and took over, and despite the chaos, the film still pulled in $45 million on an $11 million budget. For the most part, critics gave it a thumbs up, too, thanks to its sharp character work and the way it leaned into Sheridan’s stripped-down, emotionally raw storytelling. There’s also the fact that Renner and Olsen have this undeniable onscreen chemistry that’s not necessarily flirty, but definitely noteworthy. In the film, their characters connect through mutual respect, not romance, and that choice makes their performances more impactful. They don’t just listen to each other, they challenge each other and it feels real. And then there’s Gil Birmingham as Martin, Natalie’s father who interpreted his role as stoic, heartbroken, unforgettable. One of the film’s most powerful moments is when that stoicism cracks, and Sheridan lets it play out quietly, without dramatic music or speeches. It’s brutal and almost poetic all at once.
What really gives Wind River its weight is the subject matter, it’s not just another murder-mystery, it’s an eye-opener of sorts. Sheridan uses the story to shed light on the horrifying reality of how often Indigenous women go missing or are murdered. Even more emotionally gutting is how rarely those cases get any attention. He’s said it himself: there are thousands of real stories like Natalie’s, and this film was his way of making sure people start paying attention. Wind River also wraps up what many now call Sheridan’s “modern Western trilogy,” alongside Sicario and Hell or High Water. Each one digs into a different kind of American rot — the drug war, economic despair, and here, institutional neglect. But Wind River might be the most personal.
To uncover where the truth begins, Wind River is now streaming on Prime Video.
