Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 (2024)

​“Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1” stars Kevin Costner, Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Giovanni Ribisi, Jena Malone, Abbey Lee, Michael Rooker, Danny Huston, Luke Wilson, Isabelle Fuhrman, Jeff Fahey, Will Patton, Tatanka Means, Owen Crow Shoe, Ella Hunt, and Jamie Campbell Bower. Released on June 28, 2024, the film follows several characters during the American Civil War.

The film was directed by Kevin Costner, who also directed “Dances with Wolves”, “The Postman”, and “Open Range”.  Westerns were pretty much all the rage many years ago, especially ones that appeared on our grandparents’ old-school television sets.  But nowadays, they seem like throwaways that haven’t got as much love as superheroes, spies, and even fantasy heroes.  This year, Hollywood decided to give the genre another shot during the summer business, with Kevin Costner helping out.  While Costner is often seen in several memorable or forgettable dramas, the actor is also known as one of the filmmakers who revitalized the Wild West through their epic blockbusters in the 1990s.  The most notable examples of this trend are Costner’s directorial debut, “Dances with Wolves”, and Clint Eastwood’s “Unforgiven”, both of which became two of the four Westerns that won the Oscar for Best Picture.  The former, a three-hour Western epic about a lieutenant and a group of Lakota, established Costner as a passionate and ambitious filmmaker through his direction, further emphasizing his love for Westerns and epic films in general.  

After making his mark in the genre recently in “Yellowstone”, Costner is returning to those roots with an ambitious Western epic exploring the American frontier, but with a catch.  Instead of telling this story in one film, Costner seeks to make this exploration a four-film franchise, with the first chapter out in theaters and its second chapter coming out later this summer.  Usually, movie chapters like these would release years in between, but months, let alone two months?  That’s quite a bold choice for the actor/filmmaker.  Of course, this isn’t the only film using this strategy, as “The Strangers” seeks to make a single premise into a trilogy, with its final two chapters coming out later.  So far, that new “prequel” trilogy has already gotten off to an abysmal start, so I’m hoping that this new franchise starter would have enough merits to soften that blow or, at the very least, revive my interest in the Western genre.  With that said, let’s travel back to the Old West and see if this latest Western epic is worth the theatrical experience.   

The first chapter of “Horizon” centers on several characters during the Civil War.  They reside in several settlements, including the one built by Desmarais (Angus Macfadyen), with the purpose of finding a supposed paradise known as Horizon.  One of these characters includes Frances Kittredge (Miller), a widow who lost her family following an ambush by the Western Apache.  She and the other survivors were offered sanctuary by The Army in Camp Gallant, led by Lt. Trent Gephardt (Worthington) and Sgt. Major Riordan (Rooker).  As the survivors adjust to their new lives at Camp Gallant, they encounter several obstacles that deter their journey of hope, including the Apache led by Pionsenay (Shoe).  The other is Hayes Ellison (Costner), a horse trader forced to protect the prostitute Marigold (Lee) from the Sykes brothers.  Finally, Matthew Van Weyden (Wilson) leads a wagon trail through the Sante Fe Trail in pursuit of Horizon. 

If you can’t tell, I don’t watch as many Westerns as the next guy.  My dad periodically watches them, but I couldn’t muster up the willpower to experience them with him.  Unless there’s a concept within the genre that captures my interest, I’d be better off watching gunfights from science fiction and spy movies.  “The Harder They Fall” was a good example of this theory, offering a refreshing direction, talented cast, and soundtrack to invest me in its Wild West setting.  In the case of “Horizon”, it’s not just Kevin Costner and the stacked cast that captured my interest.  It’s the ambitious strategy of making this extensive story into a four-part epic, releasing each chapter months apart from each other.  The last time this happened was in 2003 when the final two “Matrix” movies were released in May and November, respectively, unless I’m mistaken.  This is something you’d typically see on a streaming service, especially Netflix when it splits a narrative-driven series into several seasons.  Looking at “Horizon” by its cover, it does look like it’s fitted as a streaming series, but how it was as a film is the true question worth answering.  I had the opportunity to see it for myself, and it definitely has that streaming series vibe, but whether that's a positive or negative thing will depend on people's perceptions.

The first chapter of “Horizon” is basically several different movies in one package.  While they’re set in the same timeline, the film explores separate perspectives of its themes of hope amid the war and conflict in the late 1850s through its different characters.  Of course, since this is chapter one of a much larger story, the characters’ separate adventures in the West have just begun, and they may or may not intertwine or be complete until the later installments.  I’ve been hearing plenty of mixed responses about the direction given for its structure.  Some didn’t mind it due to Costner’s planned strategy, while others felt it was incomplete.  This is one of those moments where I can understand both fronts of the argument.  As the first chapter of a larger narrative, “Chapter 1” is a well-crafted and traditional set-up for what’s to come in future installments, particularly “Chapter 2”.  As its own, however, it’s a three-hour first half that lacks any reason for its prolonged introductions within its half-finished narrative.  It’s far from boring since the pacing in the first and third acts kept me engaged, but the second act was when it overstayed its welcome, resulting in an experience that’s far from bland but also not exciting.

Kevin Costner is a master at delivering immersive storytelling in his period films, and "Horizon" is no different. Through his direction, Costner brings to life the timeless allure of classic Western aesthetics, including thrilling shootouts, expansive plains, and representation of Indigenous culture. The film exudes a traditional cinematic charm devoid of excessive action and big-budget CGI effects, instead focusing on rich dialogue and conventional storytelling, a testament to Costner's mastery of the genre.  Of course, its style wasn’t complete without J. Michael Muro’s sublime cinematography and the film's authentic production and costume designs.  In terms of his screenplay, which he wrote with Jon Baird, “Horizon” offers plenty of character-driven moments that work well for its themes.  The best example was the Apache raid sequence in the first act, offering sentimental dread in its engaging action.  Unfortunately, the rest of the movie struggled to match the excitement and emotion of that sequence due to its exploration of the characters and pacing, which would’ve been fine if it had a structure to work with.  It also doesn’t help that it had a lengthy montage for the upcoming “Chapter 2” that lasted way longer than it should have been.  It’s like I’ve already seen most, if not all, of “Chapter 2” before it’s actually out.

The movie is also packed with a massive lineup of actors, including those we might be familiar with in the industry.  Unsurprisingly, they did pretty well in keeping my attention through their performances.  Despite Costner being top-billed in the cast, his character, Hayes Ellison, doesn’t make his first appearance until one hour into the movie.  So, those eager to see Costner as the main character may have to wait a bit longer to see his cowboy self on the big screen.  Fortunately, audiences who are patient enough would be treated with another respectable performance from the actor/filmmaker.  Sienna Miller was also great as Frances Kittredge, a widow residing in Camp Gallant with her daughter Elizabeth (Georgia MacPhail).  Additionally, Sam Worthington offers another suitable presence outside his “Avatar” franchise regarding his role as Trent Gephardt.

Overall, “Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1” is an ambitious yet flawed beginning of a Western saga that overstayed its welcome with its three-hour prologue-type structure.  There’s no denying that Kevin Costner remains a passionate filmmaker who reflects the traditional scope of the genre with his vision and its technical aspects.  However, his ambitious storytelling can be hit-and-miss depending on people’s expectations of his goal.  Personally, I thought it was a well-made Western that’s too bloated or half-baked to be its own film.  The other first-chapter films, like “Lord of the Rings”, have exciting beginnings that feel like their own movies, with a beginning, middle, and end.  “Horizon” attempts to copy this formula but falls short of its emotional core.  The cast was solid in their roles, and the technical aspects shone in its world-building.  Sadly, its shoddy screenplay and bloated length resulted in an enjoyable but rocky start to Costner’s American saga.  However, since it is a four-chapter saga, I’m willing to withhold my judgment toward this ambitious franchise until I see the remaining chapters, starting with “Chapter 2”.  Hopefully, its next chapter will be when the good stuff happens.  

C+