Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri - Review
This review of Three Billboards is spoiler-free!
With the Oscars right around the corner, films that came out last year are going to start coming out of the woodwork and call to be seen as they have been garnering acknowledgment. If you've been following along those films that were chosen for Best Picture nominations are as follows: Call Me By Your Name, Darkest Hour, Get Out, Dunkirk, Lady Bird, Phantom Thread, The Post, The Shape of Water, and Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri. So, I've seen the majority of these films, but the first and the one I've been most interested in seeing that I haven't is Three Billboards. Since I missed the film back at its original release I have been waiting for the Oscar season so that I could catch the film in theaters. Now, I've finally gotten to see it, and I am so excited to talk to you all about it!
Three Billboards is the story of Mildred Hayes and her vendetta against the police department of Ebbing, Missouri. Her daughter's murder has gone unsolved for nearly a year, so she takes action after happening upon three unused billboards. Posing a question with an aggressive nature to the police chief using those billboards gets the attention of the second-in-command Officer Dixon. His own complicated past makes the story even more complex and invokes the fates of even more people. Without discussing the plot too with too much detail, I want to simply make it known that the story of Three Billboards is absolutely gripping and heartbreaking. The story is filled with intensity and dread, and the tension between the characters is palpable. As a whole, I loved the story of this film and didn't have a single moment that I wanted to miss (which is something that is hard to come by in movies now).
Mildred Hayes, portrayed by Frances McDormand, is one of the best characters in the film. She faces constant sadness over the loss of her daughter and the breaking down of her family. McDormand is allowed a range here because she gets to cross the entire spectrum of acting from comedic moments to moments that absolutely break your heart. She deserves consideration for a leading lady at the Oscars and I absolutely believe she could win that award. The other major character that I wanted to bring up is obviously Sam Rockwell's Officer Dixon. Seen as both a racist and momma's boy by the rest of the department and the town as a whole, he takes more offense to the challenge made by Mildred more than even the chief does. Their aggressive relationship is one of the best parts of the early going, and as the film goes on the chemistry of the actors portraying them grows even more.
Up to this point, I've touched on the depressing and heartwrenching areas of the film, but there's one thing this film does so well and that elevates the film as a whole is the comedy. In the first hour of the film, before the plot takes a darker turn thanks to one specific event, there's quite a bit of comedy in the movie. Mildred manages to crack jokes with others around her in the darkest of times and it actually was surprisingly powerful. I didn't expect the film to manage that so well, but every character gets a chance to get a few good gut punch jokes in on one another. There's one sequence where a priest challenges Mildred's decision on the billboards, and I think you can see just where that conversation ends up.
Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri is a powerful film. It manages to cover a series of topics that other films won't because of it's subject matter. As the film comes to a close I was scared that they would change the idea of the movie and wrap it up in a tidy and happy bow. Instead, it chooses not to do that and ends on a note that I'm sure will be divisive but just as strong as the rest of the film. McDormand and Rockwell's performance is absolutely stellar and manages to take the film to another level. With all of the Oscar consideration and hype around this film, I'm sure some people were out there hoping some people would level with the film and bring it down to earth. Unfortunately, I'm not going to be the one to do that. Three Billboards is a movie that NEEDS to be seen, whether you catch it now in theaters, or wait until it releases on home video, it will be worth it!
