Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1

Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 (2024)

44% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 102 reviews)

Runtime: 181 minutes

Directed by: Kevin Costner

Starring: Costner and many others

From: New Line Cinema... and Costner's production company

While I did not love everything about Chapter 1 (nor Kevin Costner's antagonistic interview from recently which many people seemed to swoon over for whatever reasons) I can still respect the hustle of a star spending many millions of dollars to bring his own passion project to screen after it being a germ in his mind since the late 80's-one epic in scope-and see it to fruition. Sure, he left a popular TV show and far worse, ruined his marriage, that's on him. I am the sort to be down for a 12 hour saga spread out over 4 movies about the American West; despite the mixed reception it has received online and it flopping at the box office, I was cautiously optimistic.

It's always possible that my rating will rise after viewing all four installments, but minor objections aside, the verdict was that it was pretty good. It was refreshing to see the start of the boom of the migration to the American West (starting in the 1860's) as a wide variety of characters are shown in several different settings. Some are moving out there, others are running away from danger, while a poor town was swindled and was built in a rather hazardous location. The Native American perspective is also presented. The 3 hours went by relatively quickly as the viewer is often switched between the settings; for example, Jena Malone is introduced then her proper story doesn't start for awhile-and you'll be surprised when a famous face finally makes their first appearance.

Many balls were juggled in the air; IMO, this was done rather well and my attention never wavered w/ the cornucopia of characters. I appreciated the vast assortment of scenic locations, the solid direction, and the pleasant musical score from John Debney. This has even more famous names than first realized—thus I won't note them all in case anyone wants to be surprised. It was a nice ensemble cast where Costner wasn't the focus; not too many films have been seen of either Sam Worthington or Sienna Miller yet both did a swell job-the latter having a rather dramatic role. It's also nice to see the likes of Malone, Isabelle Fuhrman, Danny Huston and Will Patton.

The movie naturally skews towards the boomer crowd-meaning those older than me at the age of 43-thus many on the Internet will be lukewarm at best towards a classical Western without revisionism or ironic self-detatchment. Me, I'm on board with seeing how Chapter 2 will turn out. It was admittedly bizarre how Chapter 1 did a hard cut to a preview of Chapter 2 for a few minutes-without announcing beforehand this is the pivot they would make-so nevermind how it seemed to reveal spoilers it perhaps shouldn't have, it was just jarring & took me a few seconds to realize what was happening. Chapter 1 intrigued me so in thankfully a matter of weeks I can see how well Chapter 2 continues all those plot threads. Again, I do appreciate Costner for taking such a bold risk and even if it may not find its fans until sometime in the future w/ home viewing, it was an effort I am happy to support.