This Gritty Western Just Cracked Netflix’s Top 10 and It's Got a Surprising Rotten Tomatoes Score

*adds to watchlist*

wind river netflix
VALERY HACHE/AFP via Getty Images

If you’re anything like me, you’ve definitely found yourself endlessly scrolling through Netflix, trying to pick your next binge-watch. Sometimes that search feels longer than watching the actual show or movie, which is why I often rely on the streamer’s Top 10 list to help narrow it down. If everyone’s watching it, it must be good… right?

Right now, the top of the list is filled with some big names: a wild catfish documentary is sitting pretty at number one, followed by KPop Demon Hunters (Netflix’s most-watched movie of all time, btw). In third is The Thursday Murder Club, a murder mystery flick and fourth goes to the timeless classic Shrek the Third.

But it was the film in the #5 spot that made me pause. Wind River.

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Bennett Raglin/WireImage

This 2017 crime thriller is one I definitely don’t remember hearing about when it came out. So, I did what any curious binge-watcher would do: I Googled it.

Wind River is a neo-Western crime drama starring Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen and Jon Bernthal. The story follows Cory Lambert (Renner), a wildlife officer who discovers the body of a teenage girl on a remote Native American reservation in snowy Wyoming. After an autopsy reveals she was sexually assaulted, rookie FBI agent Jane Banner (Olsen) is brought in to investigate. She teams up with Lambert and as the two dig deeper into the case, they uncover far more danger and darkness than they ever expected.

The film was written and directed by Taylor Sheridan (of Yellowstone fame). What really shocked me, though, was its Rotten Tomatoes score.

Critics loved it. Audiences loved it. In fact, its rating stands at 90 percent from audiences and 87 percent from critics. For context, that’s higher than Top Gun, Hocus Pocus and a ton of other fan-favorites.

So if you’re craving a gripping mystery with a powerful message—and haven’t seen Wind River yet—it might be time to hit play.

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