After 21 years since he directed Open RangeKevin Costner sits back in the director’s chair to tackle one of those projects that is worth betting everything on, although in his case it is a bit more literal.
He Friday June 28 comes to theaters Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1the first installment of the western tetralogy with which the filmmaker wants to pay tribute to the genre in a big way.
Kevin Costner has a lot at stake with this project, as he has invested a large part of his assets to be able to carry it out. That freedom has a price and it will be the box office and the public’s reception that dictate the final sentence.
At HobbyCine we have already seen Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 and we’ll tell you what we thought of these first three hours of the western epic.
The western, better in a big way
When talking about films set in the Wild West, there are several names that come to mind: John WayneClint Eastwood, Sergio Leone, Ennio Morricone…or, naturally, Kevin Costner.
The actor and director has starred in some of the best westerns in history, not forgetting his masterpiece of the genre, Dancing with Wolves. Horizon: An American Saga It is his definitive project and, naturally, it arouses very special interest because the tetralogy has been partly responsible for his release from Yellowstone.
This first chapter is not perfect, although we will go into that later, but to question Kevin Costner’s love for westerns would be a huge lie.
Every detail on stage, the general shots, the original soundtrack by John Debney, everything contributes to transporting us to the mid-19th centurywhen the promise of fortune and a new life in the western territories of North America encouraged thousands of pioneers to undertake an adventure fraught with danger and whose hope of success was quite slim.
As I don’t want to go into details so as not to spoil the viewing of the film, I will summarize that Horizon in a textbook MacGuffin within the story, since it is the main element that makes many of its plots advance.
Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 It has a slightly strange structure, as it embraces the mechanics of crossover stories and makes us jump between plots constantly, sometimes without much sense, although I will delve into this later.
It is impossible that the scenes of Horizon: An American Saga Don’t be fascinated by them if you are a fan of westerns; Not anything else, but that is an aspect that Kevin Costner has mastered at a God level. The narrative level is another story.
Searching for common thread: dead or alive
I came to the viewing of Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 aware that I was going to see a first installment of a saga planned to last 12 hours and with some conditioning due to the reactions the film received at Cannes. Still, I love Kevin Costner and I want to form my own judgment on the movie.
But deny that Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 has a rhythm problem, it would be hypocritical for me. There are many scenes that can be removed from the footage and absolutely nothing happens; You wouldn’t even know that there was another part there.
It’s three hours of film, but moments of real action have three or four, nothing more. It is true that there are two very powerful ones that are very worthwhile, especially at the beginning of the screening, but the rest is a looong wasteland of scenes to build and/or present characters.
It has led me to remember the criticism he received in his day Quentin Tarantino due to the slowness of The Hateful Eightbut Tarantino has a virtue compared to John Baird and Kevin Costner: he is a master of dialogue.
Although it hurts to say it, Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 It is still a collection of elements that we have already seen in movies and seriesis what it promised and it is what it delivers, but it is so conventional that we cannot get it to grab us as we would like.
Kevin Costner commented that he did not rule out the possibility that Taylor Sheridan had adopted part of the Horizon script for 1883, and it’s hard to deny the similarities. But I have to say that, if that were the case, what the co-creator of Yellowstone is to improve the story and events.
Costner tries to cover so much and so many characters that The jump between plots ends up being a bit heavy so that some barely advanceespecially that of the fort—I won’t say more—.
And then… it was over
We know that, if the box office responds, there will be three more films from Horizon: An American Sagabut that doesn’t mean that Jon Baird and Kevin Costner don’t give it a go a conclusive touch to this first film.
Well, they haven’t. Literally, After a few jumps in the central plots, the movie ends: a carousel of what awaits us in the next installment, which arrives in August, and that’s it.
A mistake, no matter how you look at it. We are not facing the first chapter of a series that is going to continue at the moment or that will arrive next week, it is a three-hour film and I need to leave the cinema with a certain feeling of satisfaction, looking forward to August to arrive to continue the adventure after a cliffhanger and a narrative conclusion of some sort. But there is nothing.
You have plenty of examples of sagas that have had conclusive elements in their first installments, from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring to Dune: Part One. It is feasible.
I am aware that there is much to see in the saga that can explain these decisions with Chapter 1, but a first chapter needs to hook, especially the most casual viewers of the genre, and you can click there.
There are many elements of Horizon: An American Saga that seem designed or more appropriate for the series format, but it is Kevin Costner’s decision that they be films, and we will have to see if he can complete the tetralogy. Is it good? It is not bad? Neither, but his narrative problems overshadow it.
In any case, I encourage you to watch Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 and judge for yourself, especially if you are passionate about the genre.
