Plays like a limited series overhauled as a movie, but more like a hasty rough cut than a release ready for any format

https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/reviews/horizon-an-american-saga-chapter-one-review-kevin-costner-gets-thrown-from-his-horse-in-muddled-western-epic/ar-BB1mFUrA?ocid=msedgntp&pc=LCTS&cvid=af9a0b3577c54ac0ae84e1a00a0f367d&ei=9

(Story spoilers are in link above)

Kevin Costner has been in the saddle long enough to know the difference between a big-screen feature Western like Dances With Wolves, a miniseries like Hatfields & McCoys or a longform like Yellowstone.

Running a taxing three hours, this first part of a quartet of films is littered with inessential scenes and characters that go nowhere, taking far too long to connect its messy plot threads. Warner Bros. will release Chapter One in U.S. theaters June 28, with Chapter Two following on August 16 and Chapter Three reportedly going into production. A vigorous montage closes the first part with action-packed snippets from the next installment, adding to the nagging sense that we're watching episodic TV that lost its way.

What's most perplexing coming from Costner is the uncomfortably long time the film takes to show sensitivity toward its Indigenous characters. We're well into Horizon before the perspective on Native resistance is broadened to acknowledge that their murderous attacks on new settlements are a direct response to the occupation of their ancestral lands. It's very confusing to see a Western in 2024 and find yourself thinking, "Wait, so American Indians are the bad guys again?"

Working from a discursive screenplay he co-wrote with Jon Baird, Costner is not at his best as a director with this kind of multi-branched narrative. He struggles to keep all the story's plates spinning, as characters are sidelined and resurface with too little connective tissue.

Any of these plotlines might have sustained an hour of compelling television but they don't add up to much in this awkwardly stitched quilt, which rarely provides the space for anyone's experiences to resonate. That also limits the scope for the actors to breathe much dimensionality into their roles. Dialogue-driven scenes often feel stilted and lifeless; the characters played by Costner, Worthington, Miller and Malone at this point show the most potential.

For many Western lovers of a certain age, Costner in a form-fitting role will be a reassuring presence. He was never an actor with the broadest range, but always appealing - even when he arrives late, as he does here, and remains on the glum side.


Other than that, it has great American landscape scenery. Still worth the watch from the looks of it.