Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1
Warner Bros. PicturesAfter thirty years – and probably more – of wrestling with ideas and producers, Kevin Costner has put everything and more on the line to self-finance and release his passion project of Horizon. It is a potentially purported four-chapter cinematic saga of the American West. Having sold every asset imaginable to raise the budget and leaving arguably the most lucrative and important roles on television in Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone, Costner has put everything on the line to deliver a vision on-screen of not only America, the West but the power and immersion of cinema. Does he succeed?
Out of the gate, to title this Chapter One, Costner is not relenting in this being a definitive anthology saga. This title is screened in the first five minutes of its opening. Not like Dune or IT with the slow reveal of its secondary conclusion announced with a whimper. No, Costner makes it known that this is a ride – and that’s just with the title card. His narrative further cements and continues this sentiment of opening up an incredibly large and complex system with arcs through time and landscape in a three-hour opening to set the tone. But, by god, does he nail it all. For those who are already somewhat dismayed at the length and context of its thesis, the appreciation of craft is so clearly evident and on show with a masterful level of cinematic prowess available.
This is a director who understands craft. Simple as it is it looks effortless on screen with a showcase of a creative who has made cast, storyboard, shot and edited it all thousands of times in his head before they’ve even started production. Shots here are constructed with the utmost sincerity and skill. Mirror images of violence through water showcases two sides of a wandering soul against a resource in another arc that is essential for survival. Mass wide shots showcase the soul and landscape of a land sitting silently in the midst of beauty and bloodshed. Utterly compelling imagery that feels spellbinding and fresh within a genre that John Ford, John Wayne and Howard Hawks showcased every inch fifty years before. Don’t let it be misunderstood that Costner is only here for the visually melancholy and abstract desire of one-note emotive sentiment. He also demonstrates on a multitude of occasions a terrific visionary of scene blocking and pacing. Two instances that ultimately bookend this feature of chaotic scenes of devastating violence build up for truly maximised horror in how he positions the travesties with the viewer as a spectator that elevates the emotional weight of the two scenarios but ultimately groomed to feel a vengeance that is being manipulated and abused in order to direct said hatred. It’s a fascinating and deeply compelling, albeit devastating, structure that has such emotive power in its loins. To hold that weight, that tragedy and emotional capacity and it not feel exploitative or ignorant shows a true master of tone and complexity within the medium. However, equally, when Costner plays with the audience in smaller and more intimate scenes of tension he’s showcasing the same technical skill albeit through a different prism and tone. One particular sequence, including Costner himself against the fabulous Jamie Campbell Bower, on a simple walk up to a cabin is crafted in one of the most simplistic yet compelling and intense sequences. Again, another element to Costner understanding his craft when little says a lot, allowing the screenplay and performance to take front and centre, as well as trusting his talent on screen to justify the words and actions with resulting applause from the rafters.
Performance: to that degree, Costner’s epic has one mighty cast list and thus characters to develop and introduce. This one is arguably the most divisive for the audience to grasp on an array of issues. As the narrative demands it, it weaves in and out of characters’ lives at often devastating and compelling moments to build an arc but floats through to give each and every one an element of interest and depth for emotive storytelling. He succeeds, but this is a mass storytelling with the possible chance of potentially never seeing these characters again so it puts a great deal of emphasis on the audience to engage. That being said, the resulting cast is fabulous. The likes of Luke Wilson, Michael Rooker, Abbey Lee, Jenna Malone, and Costner himself – taking a surprisingly short but integral role – manage to influence and engage with complex and multifaceted arcs that find balance in both being the beginning of larger things to come but fulfilling in their own right. Then, Horizon dares to surprise with the likes of Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington and Jeff Fahey stealing the show with terrific elements of intimacy and screen presence both with the screenplay and spectacularly in silence. Miller pits forward a trembling and uplifting showcase of turmoil and devastation with Worthington now finally showing the world a sturdy and compelling straight lead with terrific delivery and screen presence. All that said, it is Jeff Fahey with his fabulously talented soft delivery of pure hatred and bigotry formulated in such simplistic and subverted terms. The result is this devastatingly harsh and often frightening sentiment of a man so annihilated and absorbed with hatred he has the patience and temperament of someone level-headed, and therefore utterly devoted and accepting of the evil that he is. A consequence of which will undoubtedly and undeniably be felt for the hours to come.
Yet what may be the biggest of surprises is that, even in its length, ego and vanity, Horizon is incredibly level-headed and vast in its showcase and presentation of violence and story in the Wild West. Of course, this is largely in the context of the native perspective of this narrative. Any representation and voice outside of this often unfairly maligned community is one that should be taken very lightly and that scepticism should remain. Costner does retain natural and authentic language with culture showcased both verbally, visually and audibly. His presentation of anguish and anger fueled by invasion and slow eradication undeniably felt and presented as such. These people are not savages as often represented within the medium but people whose land has been taken, whose faith and culture are slowly dissipating into the lands that belonged to their elders and elders before them. Forced and pushed to hit this unstoppable force in ‘manifest destiny’ standing as an immovable object. The outcome of devastation and eradication an integral albeit undermined and understated travesty of a developing nation is known but ultimately yet to come within this story, with only time telling how Costner balances this gigantic narrative and the true weight of this world he is playing with.
To boast this has a terrific score that balances convention and evolution of the genre with terrific substance and endeavour. Elevating moments of euphoria and emotive anguish in the most compelling conviction. So what does Costner get wrong here? In all honestly very little, if nothing. Granted, the length of three hours is going to be contested by a large number of audience members but is ultimately settled in the context of its genre and vision. However, that is what ultimately will come back to truly define and grace Chapter One with the release and presumably completion of this overall narrative constantly in flux of possible completion. Costner’s film asks a great deal of its audience to invest its time conceptually and contextually within a project that is in constant flux of release. Chapter Two is ready to be unleashed with the production of Chapter Three allegedly almost complete and Chapter Four still finding financial backing the future seems on the surface bright. Costner does double down on this sentiment by adding in quite an unnecessary montage of what is presented as a preview of things to come but ironically serves the very thing Costner is fighting against television preview format. Alas, Costner delivers a rousing juggernaut of narrative and vision to encompass the cinematic medium. Its total completion is yet to be seen but what has been presented is a terrific and compelling experience that should be seen on the big screen.
