Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 review

HORIZON: AN AMERICAN SAGA – CHAPTER 1: 

KEVIN COSTNER’S BLOATED BUT DAZZLING FIRST CHAPTER OF HIS WESTERN EPIC! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** ½ out of 4

WARNER BROS. PICTURES AND NEW LINE CINEMA

Kevin Costner in Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1

 

            Kevin Costner (Field of Dreams, Dances with Wolves, Open Range) returns to the Old West in Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1, the first of a planned four chapter series of Western films with Chapter 2 being released later…hopefully because at the time of me writing this the second chapter was delayed. I’ll be honest, I’m not a huge Western enthusiast though I do see the appeal of them and there are a handful of movies in the genre I love like Shane, Unforgiven, and the Coen Brothers’ version of True Grit. 

            When I first heard about Kevin Costner’s Horizon films being developed, I was intrigued and that it looked like something that must be seen on the big screen given the size and scope of the film judging by the trailer. Granted, A Quiet Place: Day One and Kinds of Kindness were bigger priorities but now that I got those movies out of the way, how is Kevin Costner’s first chapter of his epic Western series? Eh. 

            I don’t think this is a terrible movie because there are a lot of impressive things about it that should be appreciated, but this movie is a slog and not just because it has a 3-hour runtime. I’m not bitching about movies that are 3 hours long because there are many examples that kept my interest all the way through (The Lord of the Rings, The Godfather, Titanic, Oppenheimer, etc.), but you need to have a strong story and endearing characters to guide the way and I don’t think Horizon does that very well, more on that later. 

            The film is set before and at the beginning of the Civil War and details the exploration of the American West and follows various fictional characters each with their own stories in the fictional town of Horizon. The movie essentially jumps around between characters and stories throughout with no real protagonist such as people on a wagon train being led by Matthew Van Weyden (Luke Wilson-Legally Blonde, Idiocracy, The Skeleton Twins), a woman named Frances Kittredge (Sienna Miller-Layer Cake, American Sniper, The Lost City of Z) and her child surviving a Native American attack, another woman known as Lucy (Jenna Malone-Donnie Darko, Saved!, The Hunger Games franchise) on the run and traveling from Montana to Wyoming and is living with a hooker who has a big heart named Marigold (Abbey Lee-Mad Max: Fury Road, The Dark Tower, Old) and finally becoming entangled with horse trader Hayes Ellison (Costner) among other stories. 

            The film also stars Sam Worthington (Terminator: Salvation, Avatar franchise, Everest) as First Lt. Trent Gephardt, Giovanni Ribisi (Lost in Translation, Avatar, Ted 1 and 2) as H. Silas Pickering, Michael Rooker (The Walking Dead, Super, Guardians of the Galaxy 1 and 2) as Sgt. Major Thomas Riordan, Danny Huston (21 Grams, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Wonder Woman) as Col. Albert Houghton, Jamie Campbell Bower (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, RocknRolla, The Twilight Saga) as Caleb Sykes, Will Patton (Armageddon, Minari, Halloween (2018 trilogy)) as Owen Kittredge, and Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan 1 and 2, The Hunger Games, From Up on Poppy Hill) as Diamond Kittredge. 

            Overall, Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 is a solid part of a Western miniseries, but as a movie it’s both an inconsistent mess and a bit of a slog. The 3-hour runtime isn’t the problem, the problem is the plot constantly jumps around between different characters and stories and because there’s no definitive main characters leading the way, it’s hard to be invested in what’s happening and the people involved. 

            On top of that, this is only a portion of a much larger story so it’s difficult to judge it on its own because it’s not a complete package. Avengers: Infinity War is also the first half of a larger story and jumped around a lot but even that felt more complete because the film knew to focus on the characters and its overarching plot between that and Endgame. 

            Here, because there’s so much story and characters to keep track of and not enough time devoted to everything, I’m struggling to even describe what this movie was about and with the long runtime I felt those 3 hours often during my viewing. Unfortunately, I can’t get into this first chapter for the time being despite a lot of hard work going into it which is a shame because there are some aspects of it I really enjoyed. 

            Like I said, this movie isn’t terrible and the things the film does right should be admired especially in terms of the cinematography and production design. This is a gorgeous-looking movie with lots of sweeping shots of the landscapes and towns that do take advantage of the big screen and look spectacular. 

            You can see the money on the screen in every shot with Costner using every cent to make it look as amazing as possible. Even though I didn’t fully get into the story or characters, I enjoyed looking at the film itself on a movie theater screen. 

            Despite the cluttered script, all the acting is solid with nobody phoning their performances in. There’s no huge standouts in the film, but everyone seems to be bringing their A-game here and I appreciate that especially for a movie that’s…not so great. 

            I’m curious to see where the film series will go with later chapters and I’m hopeful it’ll get better as it progresses because as a standalone movie, Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 is a bloated, unfocused first entry despite some appealing aspects. But maybe people who grew up with a lot of Westerns and are super nostalgic for the genre will find more to appreciate about it so I guess that’s something.