CANNES – There is nothing wrong with a three-hour movie. There have been absolute masterworks longer than 180 minutes. It sorta helps, however, if the film is, well, a movie. After watching Kevin Costner’s 181-minute-long “Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1,” we can’t argue its classification as a film, artist’s prerogative, but we’re still not sure it should be constituted as one by anyone else. And that’s for a multitude of reasons.
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This initial installment of reportedly four “Horizon” chapters begins in 1862 where a settler has found a picturesque area of land near a tranquil river somewhere in the American West. The settler is mapping out plots, but he’s being watched from afar. This is Apache territory, and this Native American nation does not take kindly to their land being squatted on. Within minutes the man and two others are dead. Eventually, the trio is buried by a missionary making his way through the countryside as a warning to any further settlers. But it’s too late, Horizon has been christened. Word has been sent East, flyers have been distributed promising a grand future and despite the dangers, more settlers will arrive.
Two years later, Horizon has grown into a camp bubbling with new residents and at least one standing structure, a home for Frances Kittridge (Sienna Miller), Owen Kitteredge (Will Patton), and their family. On this night they are enjoying the company of their neighbors in the makeshift dance hall tent. The frolicking will not last long though. The Apache’s patience has been tested, and a band of warriors descends in a wave of fury to attack the settlement. The new townsfolk had deluded themselves into believing they were prepared to defend their new “home.” As you’d suspect, they were mistaken. To be frank, there aren’t many standout cinematic moments in “Horizon” (we’ll get to that in a minute), but this is certainly one of them. Costner, cinematographer J. Michael Muro, and editor Miklos Wright depict the initial attack on the Horizon settlement in epic fashion. In many ways, this extended sequence teases what the movie might have been.
The next morning, the U.S. Calvary arrives, and First Lt. Trent Gephardt (Sam Worthington) and Sgt. Major Riordan (Michael Rooker) have only so much sympathy. The few survivors are encouraged to return with the Calvary to a protected fort nearby but a majority of them turn down the officers down. These people have given up everything to venture across the great American plains for a new life and aren’t giving up now. (The protected option still comes with the opportunity for their own parcel of land and new opportunities, but people are just stubborn, right?) Before they depart, Gephardt and Riordan rescue Frances and her daughter Elisabeth (Georgia MacPhail) from a makeshift tunnel where they hide from the Apache during the battle. Still in shock over losing her husband and teenage son, Frances decides to take Gephardt up on his offer.
Ah, but wait, there’s so much more. So, much more. We haven’t even hit the first 45 min yet.
In Montana, Lucy (Jenna Malone) lives with her husband, Walter Childs (Michael Angarano), and her two-year-old son. Unbeknownst to her spouse, she’s been on the run from what can only be described as an early Western crime family. The couple rents out a bed to Marigold (Abbey Lee), who is supposed to babysit their kid but is preoccupied with hustling as a sex worker (insinuated, at least) in the small village down the hill. Lucy, who was previously known as Ellen in another life, is in trouble when brothers Caleb and Junior Sykes (Jamie Campbell Bower, Jon Beaver) finally track her down. Thank heavens the mysterious gunslinger Hayes Ellison (Cosnter), got to town before them.
Meanwhile, on the Oregon Trail, Matthew Van Weyden (Luke Wilson), is trying to keep his convoy safe and, more importantly, sane. His fellow travelers are losing their patience with an entitled couple, Juliette Chesney (Ella Hunt) and Hugh Proctor (Tom Payne), and two (seemingly) Eastern European immigrants are telegraphing their intent to rob or kill somebody (or maybe everyone). Oh, and we can’t forget those broken-down carriages, the threat of heatstroke, and a different group of indigenous Americans watching them from afar. Almost sounds like a couple of episodes of conflict that could played out with this narrative thread alone, doesn’t it? And, that is increasingly the problem.
As “Horizon” progresses, there are numerous new storylines added to the equation. Some are almost trivial, others cliche (even for the genre), and few appear to add much to whatever the whole of Costner’s vision will eventually be. It just feels like very low stakes all around. And when you realize there isn’t even a minor conclusion to any of the narratives, the movie ends with essentially a slew of weak cliffhangers (if they can even be constituted as such), you wonder once again, “Why is this a movie?” This is an ongoing long-form television series propped up on the big screen. It’s that’s appealing you’ll be thrilled to know Costner ends the three hours with an extended teaser that seemingly gives away quite a bit for “Chapter 2” (you’re welcome for the spoiler warning). Thankfully, if you like “Chapter 1” you only have to wait six weeks for that installment to hit your local multiplex.
Besides the debate over whether it is or isn’t a movie, there’s also the question of the depiction of Native Americans in the end product. It’s initially refreshing to hear Gephardt question the settlers as to why of all places they set up camp in Horizon. Did the three graves across the river not suggest perhaps this riverbed was off-limits? Gephardt and Riordan also give much-needed exposition on the other Apache tribes and indigenous groups that are relatively peaceful to settlers if you leave them alone. The conversations within the Apache tribe also depict an old guard attempting to make the argument to an angry, impatient new generation ready that they are safe in the hills. They don’t need to engage with the settlers. The youngsters want nothing of it and demand their land back by any means necessary. In theory, this is a smart depiction of the various viewpoints of this era. But Costner and composer John Debney score the attack on Horizon (and other Indian encounters) with a sweeping and grandiose sympathy only for the settlers (who, again, shouldn’t be there). It almost undoes all of the positive portrayal that comes before it.
Moreover, considering how so many different cultural groups are represented in the movie (Mexicans and non-Apache Native Americans work for the Calvary, and Chinese immigrant workers are featured in Montana), it is also strange that in three hours the ongoing Civil War back East isn’t even name-dropped. Especially as an African-American couple of settled in Horizon. Perhaps their’s time in the next chapter?
The result is truly a head-scratcher. An Oscar winner for “Dances with Wolves,” Costner is no fluke when it comes to Westerns. 2003’s underrated “Open Range” proved that. And he’s recruited a large ensemble of actors who are mostly game to give it their all. But despite the shootouts, some epic vistas (frankly, not as much as you’d expect), and a few fleeting moments of genuine tension, it all feels flat. Maybe next week’s episode will turn it around. [C-]
“Horizon: An American Saga – Part 1” opens nationwide on June 28.
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