Horizon: An American Saga is a beautiful eulogy for the entire genre that cements Kevin Costner’s return from the big screen, freed from the confines of yee-haw Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone. It’s grand in scale and audacious in a way like no other filmmaker has attempted before – Chapter 1 of a multiple part epic, self financed out of his own income – only someone with the fame and celebrity of Costner can attempt to pull this off, and what’s more, he dares not to make himself the centre of attention, showing up an hour in with one of the coolest movie star entrances you’ll see. And make no mistake about it – Costner is a movie star; and the movies have never been more back – his love and affection for John Ford evident with every passing second of this near three hour epic.
We’re introduced to the bleak wasteland of the American frontier. The lure of the old west and how it was won is the focus here; 15 years before, during and following the Civil War, the film takes a journey that spotlights on the families that risked it all to colonise America; an open image shows the Native Americans’ desire to defend their land at all costs, a family is murdered, and then we cut to a town being constructed on the site of their burials – following the promise of a mythical “horizon” city in the west. Hopes and dreams are everywhere, dashed cruelly at every turn by the reality of the situation. Rich travellers find their ideal comforts have to be sacrificed for the needs of the many, and a prostitute is caught up in her landlord’s scandal when her past catches up to her. It’s every bit of McCabe and Mrs Miller in places, The Wild Bunch in others – brutal, intense fire-fighting one second and dancing, cheerful optimism the next. There’s a touch of James Cameron’s framing of happiness and euphoria moments before disaster in Horizon, the slow mow shots of the villagers dancing before a vengeful Native Indian tribe arrives to butcher them all is one of the most well-crafted set-pieces of the year. Perhaps more impressively, Costner gives the Native Americans a voice of their own and avoids making them being seen as the savages of the old westerns, complex characters who are being driven out of their lands by the white invaders.
The structure of this film feels like a long novel; set aside the opening chapter and you’re introduced to our three main players – Hayes Ellison, the stubborn old war-weary Costner himself, tired but good with a gun, Abbey Lee’s Marigold – a prostitute who finds herself on the run with him. There’s back and forth double-crossing, a murder at the end of a gorgeously shot stream running through a small desolate village, this is the wild west, alive and thriving with all the attention of an expert. Every scenario looks real and lived in – it’s your chance to escape into the harsh realities of the west with the thunderous triumph of Costner’s mad ambitions – the wagon train narrative running through Horizon keeps audiences hooked just as much as the attack of the Western Apache warband. We follow these characters through hell and we get empathy for them in the best way possible – all of this feels like set-up, as if it were a three hour long pilot of the most audacious mini-series you’ll see this side of Twin Peaks: The Return, but in its ode to the wild west Costner crafts a legend unlike any of its ilk. How America was made? May not be the best tagline – slap it with “How America Was Taken” for a better approach, but the film shows the ruthlessness of both sides effectively. Character struggles are everywhere, flawed, desperate souls fighting for their own pot of land.
With Chapter Two due to come later this summer, it’s clear that Costner is drawing from the experience of his work on Yellowstone to tell this story – its incomplete nature is close to that of Dune: Part One, and we all know that Dune: Part Two was worth the wait in its commitment to being a follow on. The fact that we’re getting the two films so close together shows that Costner isn’t messing about. Whether you spent time in the muck and the dirt on the Santa Fe trail or on the wasteland of frontier territory where the Kitteridge mother and daughter duo (Sienna Miller and Georgia Macphail) survive a raid by hiding in a makeshift escape tunnel frantically fighting their way to stay alive – it’s an awe inspiring tale that that Costner directs with an air of gravitas that reminds you his status as a movie star; both in front and behind of the camera. The days of the old west on film are something that he longs to return to.
Sam Worthington, Luke Wilson, Michael Rooker, Will Patton, Jena Malone, and Jeff Fahey are all players in Horizon. They shine in their respective roles whether they’re a First Ltd or a Sgt. Major. It’s refreshing to see Rooker utilised outside of James Gunn’s filmography. These characters are distinguished, distinctive, full of style and gravitas. There’s no room for revisionist westerns here – if you’re looking for a darker, edgier Django Unchained this is not it – Horizon is the rarest of rare breeds – a true, Gunsmoke western for those raised on that style of television. It’s a television show; Abel Gance’s Napoleon for the original wild west. You expect a “this season on…” style conclusion when like The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan, it ends with a heavy sneak preview of what’s to come: for a second you’re left wondering, is this a time-jump? But it’s easy to pick up on what’s to come and if you’ve adjusted to the film’s wavelength you’ll be right back for more.
The promise of Horizon awaits us as much as its characters – the end of the film sees its main cast headed there for one reason or another; following leaflets that have spread out through the United States, not knowing that they’ll find themselves faced with death and despair. It’s the bloody history of a divided nation – and by any means necessary – Costner seems intent to tell it at all costs. This is a nostalgic vision of how things used to be: The Searchers and their ilk are used as a calling card. Chapter One may be a clunky title, but it lets you know what you’re getting in for.
VERDICT: 9/10
