Film Review | Dances with Western Worlds

Horizon, the wannabe 19th century frontier town and the multi-chapter Kevin Costner–enabled epic, drops us somewhere between the wild west and the mild west. As director, star, co-writer, and personal financier of the project, Costner has staked a serious claim in the project, which opened to less than enthusiastic box office and critical regard with the new Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1.

Costner has worn these genre duds many times before, as the cowboy-hatted white savior in Dances with Wolves and most recently the successful TV series Yellowstone, which has no doubt emboldened him to undertake his ultimately four-part Horizon adventure. And yes, this is the project that a mortgage on his Padaro Lane compound has allegedly built.

Despite rumors of a flop-in-the-making, the truth (at least to my sensibilities) is that Costner has created a wobbly but noble effort in the interest of expanding the well-trodden and often cliché-prone Western genre. Ironically, big screen prospects are often sacrificed at the altar of small screen thinking: as seen on TV, watered-down and stretched-out dramatics — not to mention the coarse ditching of its episodic tapestry — mimic the foibles of prestige television tactics. It is also possible now to watch Chapter 1 in the comforts of our streaming-equipped living rooms, where we can pause for the refreshment of a visit to the urination station or another slug o’ whiskey.

TV-centrism notwithstanding, Costner uses the format to admirably touch on multiple, contrary perspectives in the story of how the West was “won” — and, for indigenous peoples, tragically lost. Dramatic bullet points include a brutal Apache attack on a village of hopeful Manifest Destiny–powered settlers/invaders, sympathetic scenes of indigenous communities fearing the loss of their ancient lifestyles (spoken in dialect, with English subtitles), scalp hunters and mercenaries, sagely elders and wisdom-spewing military men, a roving wagon train microcosm, and, of course, we have Costner’s taciturn tough guy hero in one of the many spotlights.

Here, Costner plays the mysterious, laconic gunslinger with some ornery backstory we’re not yet privy to in the series. He speaks softly through a half-clenched jaw but is a sure shot when the time comes, and he beds down with a woman half his age. That kind of guy. From the indigenous quarters, peace-seeking tribal members clash with righteously indignant young warriors, while a weary elder warily blesses his battle-ready sons, reasoning “I’m glad my sons know who they are.”

Pulled hypnotically into the concentric energies of this first saga’s multiple plot lines, abruptly we are flung into a mad montage of scenes to come when next we visit Horizon, with the release of Chapter 2 in August. As a pleasing final touch, over the end credits, a version of that trusty Americana anthem “Amazing Grace” is sung both in English and indigenous dialect.

As for Horizon’s place in the vast pantheon of films in the western genre, it’s good as many and better and more inclusive and ambitious than some. You can’t win ‘em all.