[3] The film follows a boy (Finn Little) who witnesses the murder of his father and goes on the run with a smokejumper (Angelina Jolie) in the Montana wilderness to escape a pair of assassins (Nicholas Hoult and Aidan Gillen) hired to kill him.

Those Who Wish Me Dead premiered on May 5, 2021, in South Korea,[4] and was released in the United States on May 14 by Warner Bros. Pictures under the New Line Cinema banner, both in theaters and digitally for one month on HBO Max.

Hannah attempts to take Connor into town on foot but they are forced to turn back when the fire blocks their path.

In the morning after the fire has burned out, Hannah's old smoke-jumping team arrives and rescues her, Connor, and Allison but Ethan dies from his gunshot wounds.

[1] In the United States, the film was released alongside Spiral, Profile, and Finding You, and was projected to gross $4–5 million from 3,188 theaters in its opening weekend.

The site's critical consensus reads, "A squarely traditional '90s-style action thriller, Those Who Wish Me Dead is elevated by Taylor Sheridan's propulsive direction.

[19] Writing for Variety, Peter Debruge said: "As directed by Taylor Sheridan, Those Who Wish Me Dead offers a much bigger sandbox for the gifted actor-turned-action maven, whose scripts for Sicario and Hell or High Water have launched him to the front of a genre dominated by CG robots, superheroes and other [intellectual property] once associated with Saturday morning cartoons.

Such movies are plenty popular, but this one marks a welcome departure – one intended for grown-ups seeking more 'realistic' diversion – without shortchanging audiences when it comes to either spectacle or sound.

"[25] Alonso Duralde of TheWrap wrote: "The stakes are high and the danger is always imminent in this straightforward thriller; it never bends the rules of the genre, but it certainly delivers on what it promises.

"[26] Film critic Sheila O'Malley from Roger Ebert.com praises the "effective action sequences", notably those that show the speed of a spreading forest fire, but she says "more could be made of ...the smoke jumpers' special capabilities and skills".

"[27] Reviewer Peter Bradshaw from The Guardian praised the performances of Gillen and Hoult as the villains, stating that "almost everyone in the film is in danger of being upstaged" by the pair.

Bradshaw says Gillen's "malign little smile" is able to "convey evil with great economy" and the "jaded older man's attitude works interestingly alongside Hoult's boyish, open demeanour.

"[28] Bradshaw notes some "plot oddities", such as the illogical depiction of the assassins starting a forest fire as a diversion to local police.