Dog’s Movie House: “Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter One” Is As Threatens To Be As Ponderous As The Title!

There are several plot threads throughout “Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1” so I won’t go into detail here. One involves as drifter (Kevin Costner) who runs afoul of an outlaw family looking for a missing child. Another involves a wagon train led by Luke WIlson and still another involves the survivors of an Indian massacre rebuilding their lives at a United States cavalry fort. Each of these narratives has multiple threads and, despite the three hour runtime, “Horizon” is never able to fully delve into these characters and thus the audience is going to struggle to find any emotional grounding in the film.

It’s a shame because Costner the director takes “Horizon” by the horns and directs the hell out of it. It’s clear he’s honoring “How The West Was Won” in terms of multiple narratives featuring a sprawling cast. The only thing missing is the massive title card stating that the movie was “Filmed In Cinescope!” It’s a beautiful film to look at but it acts more like a painting than a moving picture at times. There’s a lot of talking, a bit of action, and a fare amount of horse riding and running.

Costner has managed to assemble a remarkably talented cast which includes Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Michael Rooker, Jena Malone, Jeff Fahey, Luke Wilson Giovanni Ribisi, Danny Huston, and others. Each gets a few moments to shine here and there, but the various narrative’s switch so fast that not enough time is spent with any of them to make more than a cursory connection. The film becomes something akin to a wester version of “It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” in which spotting the various actors is more interesting at times than watching the movie.

“Horizons: An American Saga – Chapter One” features some decent action including a shootout between Costner and one of the more annoying and arrogant bad guys in the film. Costner shoots said encounter from various angles making it seem like his character can move with almost supernatural speed. There’s also the Indian night raid on the settlement a few miles from the fort. It’s the film’s longest sequence (although Costner continues to cut from this particualar story to the others with annoying frequency). It also features the most brutality in the film, portraying the attacking Apache as almost demonic. (There are scenes involving the Apache tribe that attempt to humanize them, but in this film, at least, the focus is almost exclusively on the Apache’s savagery.

So what to make of “Horizon: An American Saga-Chapter One?” It’s kind of a mess, but with enough granduer and beauty to make me want to continue to follow Costner’s vision. I just hope it starts to coalecse a little more during the next chapter, which releases in August. It has an uphill battle from a box office standpoint, releasing in the height of the summer movie season, but it may find some legs among the older audiences who are craving more mature entertainment. 3 Out Of 5 On Kerndog’s Barkometer! So Sayeth The Kendog!

Pages: 1 2