The first of four installments is an anticlimactic investment, although a great reward is glimpsed
Kevin Costner’s relationship with the Western genre is a testament to his passion for the essence of America and in his recent project, ‘Horizon: An American Saga’, he has taken his commitment to the genre to the realm of a crazy creator, investing his own savings to bring to life An epic story that began with a timid first chapter which closes its relationship with the border from its beginnings in ‘Silverado’, which has ended up encompassing the entire spectrum of Hawks and Ford’s spirit throughout their career.
That marked Costner’s entrance onto the scene, proving his ability to compete with seasoned actors. His debut behind the camera, ‘Dances with Wolves’ was a pivotal moment in his career, proving his ability to direct and act in a film that redefined the genre for modern audiences, grossing over $400 million worldwide and winning 7 Oscars, including best film and best directorcementing its place in film history with its portrayal of Native American cultures.
In ‘Wyatt Earp,’ Costner took on the legendary figure with a nuanced portrayal that delved deeper into Earp’s life beyond the infamous OK Corral shootout. And something else went unnoticed.Open Range‘, this time also directed by him who It could be the epilogue of that one, with a former gunman forced to confront his past.. A title that has continued to grow over the years and that showed an author who revolves around individualism and heroism, and that was revived on television a decade later, in the miniseries ‘Hatfields & McCoys’.
Costner led the cast in the recreation of the notorious family feud that seemed to prepare him for his portrayal of John Dutton, a rancher fighting to protect his land in the neo-western series ‘Yellowstone’, which has returned the genre to prestige television. , proving that his influence extends beyond the big screenThis rebirth put the actor in charge of carrying the flame of the saddles, even in variations such as ‘The Highwaymen‘ (2019) or ‘Let Him Go‘ (2020) that showed their dedication to preserving the relevance of the genre in the 21st century.
The last filmmaker with boots and hat
It seems that with ‘Horizon: An American Saga’ (2024) the filmmaker seeks to make the definitive Western experience, almost as if it were an old serial, his plan is to make a multi-part epic work to explore the expansion of the American West before and after the Civil War. With a somewhat lukewarm reception in Cannes, This chapter one seems like a little appetizer of everything that is to come.and in fact at the end it includes a kind of summary-trailer of the next episode.
Nothing that we haven’t seen in some way in the nice post-credits scenes of superhero movies, but it is a closure that shows the biggest problem of this approach to his saga: it has no climax. Because it doesn’t have one, it doesn’t have its own structure, Neither a crescendo of emotion nor a cohesion as an “episode” beyond being a first act (of four) that presents us with a large number of characters, situations and territories, a walk across the canvas on which Costner, supported by Jon Baird, has written the mammoth script of the four chapters.
This lack of traditional inertia has led to comparisons with a television series, which is not very fair (or accurate), since In its development of small sketches and subplots, it does not follow an episodic format.but rather it goes on in a row, in jumps and ellipses of indeterminate time and with information that unravels like a great epic work, which television formats rarely adopt. It can certainly be blamed for a poorer production than what such a work might require, but modesty is not exclusive to television series (quite the opposite, today).
An investment that promises rewards
Noticeable a great effort in the art direction, setting, costumes and locations, but also lacks of staging and, above all, photography, where the digital camera ruins part of the spell of a trip to the past, and as in examples like ‘Bone Tomahawk’, it results in a texture that is allergic to the genre, or vice versa, that does not work. well with the panoramic views, the sunsets and the great visual ambitions associated with the genre, a poisonous optic to feel the emotions transmitted by its classic soundtrack.
The result is, however, competent and functional, enough to involve us in the story, consuming the minutes in an agile way and demonstrating that narrative classicism continues to work and allows the viewer to get lost among the charactersthe parallel conflicts, the gradual condensation of events that lead to violence and shootings that will only get worse. The background of the war indicates a savage colonization and what is to come promises more than what an introductory dish allows us to glimpse.
But despite a disappointing feeling (especially if you have ‘Open Range’ nearby) at the end of the three hours, the only thing you want is to keep seeing what happens in this world, and the aftertaste is that this first trip is an investmentlike the first 300 pages of Stephen King’s book ‘Apocalypse’, towards a larger scale story and perhaps here it seems more than ever to that other western that is not usually included in his western films, ‘Messenger of the Future’with which he shares a noble serenity, a purity of feelings associated with the most naive, well-intentioned and comfortable cultural perception of the American West.
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