Kevin Costner may be of all our great American film stars the one most in the same vein as Marilyn and Liz Taylor and Burton, in the sense that with so many of his biggest projects more is said around the film than about the actual film. Now of course this is different to a Cleopatra when it comes to scandalous details about production, instead he is often swamped with an inundation of criticism and questions surrounding the pre-production, financing and quality of product sight unseen. Perhaps this phenomena never plagued him more than with his latest film/s; Horizon.
Where to begin?
Well the first question is a boring one. How does one rate this film, well
normally I would have no problem, although this is part of a series of films,
it is still its own film and should be viewed as such. However in this case the
film just feels so desperately indebted to it’s further entries that it may
very well end up the most good faith review of a mediocre film I’ve ever
written. There was afterall so very much to love about this first part and on
the other hand so very much to frankly bring it down. Costner’s expansive epic
spans so we are told the forming of a town in the American West across 15 years
and across four films, such is the nature of Costner’s sprawling narrative that
he penned himself with Jon Baird, that this first film is spent introducing and
introducing and introducing with only glimpses of resolution and only glimpses
of the town of Horizon that this whole series is built around reportedly.
Now it was for me at least around the 1hr 30min mark that I realised that we
were likely never getting to Horizon in this film, despite it seeming
like a narratively satisfying conclusion for this first part. Instead the film somewhat
fizzles out with an extended action scene that doesn’t actually offer any culmination
for the majority of the stories and characters involved in this film. So on a
narrative and structural level the film does fail for me by the end, but
Costner is so fervent that he does not see this is as one film, that blindly I
follow him into believing that the next film will satiate me. As a writer
however there are many scenes where Costner excels and as a director even more
exemplary evidence of his talents behind the screen. However one can’t help but
feel that this is neither the satisfying single film that it could have been, or
for that matter is it the exciting and invigorating first part of a series that
audiences will furthermore be clamouring for the next part. Either way Costner’s
gamble is still pending its payout creatively and critically and certainly it
seems financially. But again, as always, this over Deadpool and Wolverine any
day of the week. To have a film feel like a person actually made it (for better
or for worse Lord knows how much Costner was involved) is what we should strive
for and what we should celebrate, even with polite criticism paired with it.
Now Part One does signify something, but the film must be rated on its own merit and that leaves us with a 6/10. Now perhaps Part Two makes this film feel more whole and the ratings change, or perhaps Part Two feels just as incomplete and we must wait years and years for Part Three, even Four. Or perhaps Part Two is worse. The possibilities of conclusion in regards to the films narratives and the films qualities is endless and that is perhaps the excitement of this endeavour. Costner has unfortunately for me just struck upon one fatal flaw that I’m sure was unavoidable – in not shooting on film and tempering his own budget across these four films, he has made the whole film feel somewhat like TV and although I stand by him firmly as a member of the big screen brigade, this does feel like a special cinema screening of the first three episodes of a show that someone tells you “gets really great after the fourth episode”. But still, Kevin, I will indeed “see you at the movies” as instructed and whatever it comes to in the end… Long live Horizon!
P.S. Much has been said about the ending of the film or perhaps lack there of, instead moving almost randomly and without any signifiers to what’s happening, into a fully fledged montage of scenes and moments from the next part in this saga paired with an almost comical reveal of Giovanni Ribisi in a Nick Fury style turn to camera – and I’m not even kidding. Now whether Costner knows who Nick Fury is, thinks his audience will be clamouring to know more about Ribisi’s Pickering character or whether he gives a sh*t at all and simply wants to roll into the next film immediately is all up for debate. But what is not up for debate is that despite the clunkiness of this ending montage, it did its job. Give me Part Two, Three and Four, Kevin, if nobody else, I will be there opening weekend once more.
- Thomas Carruthers
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