“Wind River opens with the stark image of a woman running barefoot across the frozen emptiness in wide-open Wyoming. The particulars of who she is, where she is and why she’s running are the subject of this gritty, dense, superbly realized crime procedural that ranks among the year’s best films.
“Writer-director Taylor Sheridan, who wrote 'Sicario' and 'Hell or High Water' — both on the short list of the decade’s finest works — continues his hot streak here and shows his knack for richly written characters, a detailed sense of environment and sharp dialogue.
“Jeremy Renner, in his strongest performance since his Oscar-nominated turn in 'The Town,' is Cory Lambert, an agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who joins up with local law enforcement and visiting FBI agent Jane Banner (Elizabeth Olsen) to investigate the death of a young woman found face dead in the snow.
“Sheridan builds his world and plunges viewers into the center of it as Lambert and Banner follow their investigation, step by step. He doesn’t turn up any big surprises or bog things down with extraneous subplots — surely a lesser screenwriter would have made the two leads fall in love — he just shapes his story with the precision and craft of an expert storyteller. Bundle up: Wind River will blow you away.” - Detroit News