Kevin Costner's Epic HORIZON: AN AMERICAN SAGA - CHAPTER ONE is old fashioned, beautiful to look at, sprawling in scale and for me, a worthy entry into Costner's legacy of classic Western films.
Over the last few decades, Costner has starred in and/or directed some of the best films in the genre. "Dances with Wolves", "Open Range", "Silverado" and the underappreciated "Wyatt Earp".
He's put his money where his mouth is this time out, sinking $70 million of his own money into the HORIZON saga, which he envisions as a four-film story. Sadly, this first chapter did not find an audience in theaters just before the 4th of July weekend, putting the release of the completed Chapter Two in limbo.
There's certainly enough story to fill more than one movie. We spend the first 70 minutes of this film's 181 minute running time (coincidentally, the exact same running time as "Wolves") meeting the characters in our tale. Costner doesn't even ride into the film until exactly an hour in!
The film tells the tale of American settlers heading west during the Civil War era. To say they are not welcomed is an understatement. Costner has always had a heart for telling both sides of the Old West and at least for the first half of the film, we do see the fractures within the native tribes, with elders wanting to meet with the white men entering their lands. The younger warriors want to exterminate the invaders and protect their land. In the first half hour, I found myself inspired by the bravery of the people leaving everything behind to claim a piece of the new world, and horrified watching the advancement through the eyes of the indigenous children.
Sienna Miller is Frances Kittridge, surrounded by her family in a new home in the Horizon settlement. Her world is torn apart when the village is attacked and massacred in a huge scale action sequence well staged by Costner and his production team. The loss of families and children of every age is shocking and the film doesn't shy away from the brutality.
Sam Worthington (Avatar) stars as Lieutenant Gephart, a Cavalry man leading the team that comes to the Horizon settlement to help the survivors of the brutal attack.
Meanwhile, Luke Wilson is Matthew Van Weyden, leading a massive wagon train across the landscape. A wide breadth of settlers is in the group, including a proper young English husband played by Tom Payne (Prodigal Son) and his wife, who provide some humor in their posh approach to heading West.
Jena Malone (Nocturnal Animals) plays Ellen Harvey, who we meet as she shoots a man and kidnaps her own son, escaping into a pioneer town where she relies on young lady of the evening Marigold (Abbey Lee from "Mad Max: Fury Road") to watch her son during the day. The man she shot is the leader of Sykes family, a notoriously brutal name known to any of the settlers. The brothers Sykes, led by Jon Beavers (Sugar, Licorice Pizza) as Junior, in a towering performance that damn near steals the movie, head out to find Ellen at all costs, putting her, her son and Marigold in danger.
Meanwhile, Costner stars as Hayes Ellison, a slightly more talkative version of Eastwood's Man with No Name, with his gun at his side and a focus on doing what's right, even if that means killing a man in a split second. Costner is fine here, but I hope that future chapters open up the character to show more layers underneath that ten gallon hat.
If the above seems overwhelming from a narrative standpoint, I've barely touched on the twenty or so main characters driving the narrative.
My biggest complaint with Horizon is the editing by Costner regular Miklos Wright (Open Range, The Umbrella Academy). I feel like the two of them must have had a massive board in the editing room, keeping track of all the characters, timelines, locations and action. Unfortunately, as a viewer, that matrix isn't available and I found some of the time jumps and movements from storyline to storyline pretty confusing.
The acting is fine across the board and the photography of the western landscapes by J. Michael Muro (Crash, Open Range) is jaw dropping.
I have never minded long films that hold my interest, and this one did, but my bride found it very long and confusing, an opinion shared by many on its way to $34M at the box office against the $100M budget.
Many felt that Costner bit off more than he can chew, but I'm along in the saddle with him and have confidence that he'll weave all these people together into a final Western tapestry to stand alongside his classics. With only 25% of the story presented, it's a bit early to judge the epic.
I'll be excited to see Chapter Two, whenever it lands on the big screen. Here's hoping it earns a big enough following on MAX and streaming to build an audience and provide Costner the room to complete his most ambitious film.
For me, the full HORIZON is still a long way off, but I give CHAPTER ONE a solid B.
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