There have been a lot of great Taylor Sheridan movies and TV shows over the years, but I’ll be damned if Wind River is not the best thing he’s ever made. I’ve been obsessed with this movie ever since it first came out back in 2017, and over the years, I’ve watched it more times than I can count. Now that it’s available once again with a Netflix subscription, I’ve gone back and done it again.
Revisiting the gritty thriller near the top of CinemaBlend’s best of 2017 list, I was oh so excited to experience Wind River’s most intense scene: the standoff between police and a menacing group of security contractors. After watching this scene for like the hundredth time, I have to talk about it…
The Standoff Between The Police And The Oilfield Security Team Is A Masterclass In Rising Tension
Though Taylor Sheridan is mostly known these days for his work on the ever-expanding Yellowstone universe and its wide array of characters, folks shouldn’t forget that he’s one of the best screenwriters when it comes to rising tension. This scene, which takes place as Elizabeth Olsen’s FBI Agent Jane Banner leads a group of police to investigate the murder of a young Native American woman, starts off innocent enough with a conversation between authorities and security contractors on a drilling site, but that doesn’t last long.
Over the course of the scene, Sheridan slowly yet methodically pushes the pieces around, eventually leading to a terrifyingly extreme and unpredictable standoff where everyone has drawn their guns while also having a gun pointed at them. It’s patient, it’s quiet, it’s thrilling, and it’s an absolute masterclass in tension that is just as remarkable now as it was upon my first watch.
Also, The Way Taylor Sheridan Inserts A Flashback In The Middle Is Perfect
I also can’t get enough of how Sheridan inserts a flashback just before everything pops off. Natalie Hanson’s (Kelsey Asbille) fate is already known before the scene, but the how and why aren’t revealed until this grueling and traumatizing sequence. The flashback, which shows Natalie’s final hours, as well as those of her ill-fated boyfriend, Matt Rayburn (Jon Bernthal), starts innocently enough before turning into a gut-wrenching and gutting series of events.
We don’t really know where the security guards stand before this, but all hope that these guys aren’t complicit in the murders goes out the window as we watch the same guys brutally assault a woman before beating her boyfriend to death in front of her, before she suffers a similar fate. Cutting back to the present day, now knowing what these guys are about, takes things to the next level.
The Shootout Following The Standoff Is Equally As Terrifying And Intense
After an intense standoff and a harrowing flashback, everything comes to a head when the cops and security contractors start shooting each other like it’s a scene out of one of the best Westerns. Jane getting shot off the front step, Officer Ben Shoyo (the late Graham Greene) taking out a few contractors before getting shot in the neck, and a near execution before Agent Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner) kills the rest with a high-power rifle make this an unforgettable and terrifying scene.
The entire sequence is loud, explosive, and chaotic, and it’s pulled off so effectively because of the way Sheridan allowed the tension to slowly build over the course of several minutes.
It seems like I’m not alone in my love for Wind River, as the movie is currently rising through the ranks of the Netflix Top 10 nearly a decade after its release.
