Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1, 2024.
Directed by Kevin Costner.
Starring Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Jena Malone, Abbey Lee, Michael Rooker, Danny Huston, Luke Wilson, Isabelle Fuhrman, Jeff Fahey, Will Patton, Tatanka Means, Owen Crow Shoe, Ella Hunt, Jamie Campbell Bower, Thomas Haden Church..
SYNOPSIS:
Chronicles a multi-faceted, 15-year span of pre-and post-Civil War expansion and settlement of the American west.
To watch Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 is to partake in a futile endeavor of following along five, six, or maybe more mostly disconnected plots, all of which take the entire three-hour running time even to begin feeling as if they might go somewhere. A passion project for co-writer/director/star Kevin Costner (scripted alongside Jon Baird), it’s an epic Western only in name and more of a series of story introductions, often with characters disappearing for upwards to 30 minutes. Even Kevin Costner doesn’t actually appear in the film until roughly an hour in.
There is also no denying the ambition behind this series (with Chapter 2 set for a theatrical release in August and two more installments planned), which goes beyond the passage of time. This fragmented narrative jumps all over the frontier, from San Pedro to Montana and more (each locale thankfully looks distinct), beginning in the late 1800s and crossing over into the Civil War. At the center of it is the titular Horizon settlement, a place spoken to be the last great piece of remaining land.
Questionably taking a while before presenting the Apaches with humanity in defending their land, one can only assume Kevin Costner knew that something so narratively disjointed required a lengthy battle sequence to open the proceedings up alongside sweeping viewers up into the era. It’s the only logical reasoning for this opening sequence that essentially amounts to getting to know a typical white settlement family before they are forced into defending themselves from an Apache attack, with dozens of these Indians getting shot and slaughtered.
To be fair, there are some casualties on the white side and in the family, forcing a mother (Sienna Miller) and young daughter (Georgia MacPhail) to relocate. Elsewhere, a guarded gunslinger with a hidden past (Kevin Costner) gets wrapped up in a deadly family affair, protecting a prostitute (Abby Lee) and her infant nephew. There is also a young child eager to kill some Apaches, but not before realizing the weight of what it means to carry a gun, let alone fire one. Luke Wilson is in charge of some settlers, which includes a sophisticated progressive pair that causes problems. There are also two violent brothers hell-bent on taking back the previously mentioned child.
Again, this only scratches the surface of Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1, which barely touches upon anything regarding narrative momentum. Naturally, no one should necessarily expect finality from a film entitled Chapter 1, but this feature doesn’t come anywhere close to ending on a high note, encouraging viewers to come back for more, like, say, the climax of an intense episode of serialized television would. Instead, Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 transitions into an overlong montage of scenes coming up in the second installment, none of which necessarily seem compelling
This is majorly frustrating since, every once in a while, Kevin Costner (as a filmmaker) stumbles into a scene ripe with character tension, historical intrigue, or visual splendor. Even though something compelling doesn’t always come from it, there are pleasantries in his patience, allowing characters to speak and interact with one another for an extended length of time. If only the multi-pronged narrative were condensed into something worth a damn… Bluntly put, the film is boring, particularly during the final hour, where things become so tedious with no rewarding payoff or self-contained climax or anything noteworthy regarding the several characters here. If you need an epic Western fix this bad, either revisit some classics or play Red Dead Redemption 2.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
