Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Director: Martin McDonagh

Cast: Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, Peter Dinklage

Genre: Thriller, comedy

Year: 2018

'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri' accounts the ruthless struggle Mildred Hayes, a mother in mourning for her deceased and raped daughter, goes through in an attempt to bring more attention to the case. Despite this resulting in chaotic back lashes from the public, she firmly marches forward, only to instigate even more repercussions.

Mildred Hayes is furiously contemptuous towards the Ebbing police for being seemingly dismissive about the case involving her raped, murdered and burned daughter, Angela. In order to draw their attention to it, she opts to hire out three stray, abandoned billboards on a lonely road as a protest against this ignorance. 'Raped While Dying', 'And Still No Arrests?', and 'How Come, Chief Willoughby?' are the bold statements plastered onto these billboards which instantly strikes up a colossal controversy within the police and rapidly becomes public knowledge. Many people are opposed to this, yet despite this, Mildred is unyielding in her campaign, which only serves to cause even more problems that she takes on almost single-handedly.

Martin McDonagh expertly crafts this unique and intricate plot, and confidently takes the wheel as director. Once again, he writes and directs this darkly humorous and striking drama, steering it in countless unexpected directions. The film is immensely unpredictable in its plot line, taking sudden, unprecedented turns which completely reconstructs where the audience initially believes the story is going and frequently jerks the narrative to follow a different route which keeps viewers on their toes. All the while, this is executed fluently, making all the surprising divergences from the expected plot feel natural and seem like almost a logical development for the narrative to take. This reinforces McDonagh's more than competent ability in screenwriting, a notion which isn't just seen through the satisfying complex, yet riveting plot line, but also through the snappy, witty, crisp dialogue that he delivers.

The way he constructs dialogue within this film is fantastic, and can be likened to other auteurs such as Quentin Tarantino or Woody Allen. All the speech flows naturally and suits each character independently; the way they speak functions as its own component of a person's personality and suits their own individual behaviour. In addition to this, despite the film being somewhat infamous for its use of profane language (a notorious aspect of McDonagh's films in general), due to how it is written, the language feels managed in such a way that, although blatantly there, rarely feels excessive and the comedy and the relevant emotion benefits from it.

The comedic aspect of this film is excellent, with the witty dialogue evoking many laughs. It is intelligent humour and written in a way that it doesn't feel forced nor over or under used; the amount of humour used is never excessive to the extent that it feels distracting from the more emotionally driven areas of the film, nor does it feel absent from the film when it could be added. Even so, the films tone does drastically change half way through when a certain pivotal event shakes the entire framework that the film had built up. While the first half was filled with plenty of blackly humorous moments, the second half is distinguished by its emotive tone. It is here where an influx of turns occur, shaping each of the character's arcs and taking the opportunity to develop them. The repercussions become more damaging to more people, and more risks are taken, resulting in greater consequences, all of which are as suspenseful as each other. There are a multitude of scenes driven by their persistent build up of tension, with unprecedented results. Their pacing is magnificent; the tension is sustained long enough to keep the audience fixed on the screen and when it is eventually released, there is a following scene which essentially does the same thing and the suspense within the film is amazing. Despite this, there is never a moment within the film that feels implausible or unrealistic - in fact, the whole film feels perfectly believable and is constructed in such a way that it doesn't overdo anything.

All the characters created are memorable and, as said before, have brilliant arcs which feel logical and understandable. Frances McDormand is fabulous as the unrelenting Mildred and pulls off probably the best performance of her career. Despite her mainly deadpan expression for the majority of the film, she has her moments when alone and isolated, where she expresses her true, buried emotions which reinforce how she is human and not a mindless robot. Sam Rockwell too is superb as somewhat antagonistic cop Dixon, and easily steals the show. The film begins by showing his violent and harsh exterior, but gradually unravels his character to expose his insecurities, again humanising him. Woody Harrelson is also great as Chief Willoughby who is almost the target of Mildred's campaign. All the other supporting cast are brilliant and bring to life their own characters, and McDonagh gives the majority of them their own opportunity to contribute to the film and to show the impact each scenario has on them. This means that the film isn't fervently focused on Mildred for the whole film, yet documents everybody else and also presents a ranged argument about whether something is right or wrong. It doesn't force a certain opinion, but lays out all the character's perspectives with the intention to have the audience decide who is in 'the right'.

One of the only issues with characters is that Mildred's ex-husband's girlfriend, Penelope, acts as a somewhat irritating comic-relief, and although this is relatively funny, for the most part her character's involvement feels unnecessary (albeit her being still a relevant part of a sub-narrative).

The notion of the billboards is really interesting, and they soon become their own individual motif for the movie. For the first minute or so, the camera examines each of them in their initial, barren state and frequently cuts back to them, either with them in the horizon or whenever they become a section within the narrative.

Additionally, the cinematography is beautiful in this film. As well as some appealing silhouettes of the billboards, the film looks visually pleasant. The camerawork is occasionally quite creative, with one particularly 'window' scene that is done all in one take which adds to the ferocious tension of this event.

Ultimately this film is brilliantly executed by a clearly confident director and writer who manages to construct a fantastically intricate and riveting film with marvelous acting, character development, tension and comedy. Rarely does it loosen the tension, keeping the film consistently suspenseful and breath-taking, assisted by the unpredictable courses McDonagh takes throughout the plot that retains its freshness.

Verdict: 9/10