Rating: 4.5 / 5

When revenge films come to mind, people usually think of a single protagonist going on a violent murder spree, sometimes doing it while spouting a lot of curse words. One of the more recent examples are the two “John Wick” films with Keanu Reeves as the title character. He shoots down the gangsters and assassins who have wronged him. While “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” does have a lot of cursing and at least a couple of bloody moments, it is a very powerful film.

Frances McDormand (“Hail, Caesar!”) stars as Mildred Hayes, a distraught mother whose teenage daughter, Angela (Kathryn Newton, “Lady Bird”), had been raped and murdered months before. The lack of progress in the investigation from the local police department prompts her to rent three billboards situated next to an empty road to send a message toward Sheriff Willoughby (Woody Harrelson, “War for the Planet of the Apes”), leading to a personal conflict between her and the rest of the police department, which also includes a bigoted and uncaring officer named Jason Dixon (Sam Rockwell, “Don Verdean”).

The first thing to note about the film, written and directed by Martin McDonagh, is Frances McDormand as Mildred. Throughout the film, she conveys her anger and pain with just a passive expression on her face. When she speaks, most of what she says is sarcastic and bitter, showing that she truly has become a cynical person. McDormand’s performance is so effective, the viewer genuinely feels her pain. She deserves a win for Best Actress at the Oscars this year.

Harrelson is also strong and maintains a balance between being a committed officer of the law and a quiet family man. The way Rockwell handles Dixon’s unsophisticated personality may come across as over the top at first, but he manages to pull it together and make the character believable.

Perhaps the one weak performance in this film is from Samara Weaving (“Monster Trucks”) as Penelope, the 19-year-old dating Mildred’s ex-husband, Charlie (John Hawkes, “Everest”). She has some weak comedic moments in the film, cutting into the dramatic exchanges with stuttering and hesitation in her sentences; the awkwardness of these desperate attempts calls to the mind the numerous ill-judged “funny” scenes in Marvel Studios’ films.

The town of Ebbing is successfully displayed upfront with the help of the cinematography by Ben Davis. Most shots of the billboards and the adjacent road are wide shots, reveling in the desolation of the landscape. Speaking of landscapes, the only part of Ebbing shown is the one block where most of the action takes place. It includes the police station and the real estate office where McDormand rents the billboards. Close-up shots on McDormand’s face help the viewer study her character and enhance her performance.

Ultimately, “Three Billboards” displays how complicated vengeance can be. Mildred herself is not a perfect individual, and has her own demons that fill her with guilt. Willoughby genuinely wants to help Mildred, but he also has his family to worry about. All of the main characters are affected by the ongoing failure of getting to the bottom of Angela’s rape and murder, while some suffer more than others. Without giving away the film’s conclusion, one can see that getting a catharsis from vengeance is not as simple as many other films seem to suggest.

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