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A review with brevity (if not wit)
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri (3 Billboards) was one of the strangest and at the same time most interesting movies that I have ever seen (I can’t believe I have seen three great movies in three nights).
It starts out like a procedural, at times reads like a buddy movie, and ends up as something totally different but somehow it still really works.
Part of that is because of incredible performances from Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell, and Woody Harrelson (three of the most underappreciated excellent actors working today). But to say it is a great movie because of the great performances ignores the incredible feat writer Martin McDonagh pulled off by using traditional movie genre tricks to draw everyone into a deep, sad, and often funny meditation about the many complexities and contradictions found in the desire for revenge.
Revenge Fantasy
At the core of the movie is a towering performance by Frances McDormand. It is really hard to explain in words what an amazing character her Mildred Hayes is.
