Horizonte: Una Leyenda Americana

Visually its amazing, as you would expect from A western movie.

It has some great themes and plot lines but even though its part one and 3 hours long it feels rushed and crammed in. Pacing was all over the place, characters teleport between places and times and feels like chunks were left out.

There are parts of the story when in one scene people are doing something, then the next scene seems like a year later with no explanations.

As a story telling vehicle its all over the place.

The cast is great,

The end montage to preview the next movie was just ridiculous.

Still looking forward to seeing where it goes but it really feels like a TV series joined together, with the odd part of an episode left out.

Look I'll be the first to admit I groaned and rolled my eyes at everyone in the theaters at the end of The Fellowship of the Rings when a few morons said out loud "wait that's it?!?" At the end of the 1st of 3 movies.... But, in the case of this movie (which I understand is just Chapter 1 with Chapter 2 in the eves) wait that's it?

I just watched a 3 hour movie, with 15 main characters, and 30 subplots. Each of which got 25 minutes? It just felt incredibly disjointed. The weird spoiler-y preview at the end was spoiler-y as hell. I feel like this would have been a great mini-series, but in this convoluted fashion it fell flat for me.

It was beautifully shot. And was fun to watch visually, but I have no idea about any of the characters, they history, reason for being. It just drops you in the middle of each journey and it genuinely feels like I missed and entire movie before this. Maybe Chapter 2 will solidify some stuff, but that is a stupid way to do things.

The good: -Great cinematography and use of scenery.

-Good suspense and action in the first half- hour.

-Good film score to compliment the scenes.

-Not sugar coating or politicizing the conflict with the Native Americans.

The bad: -Juggling different storylines doesn't see to be Kevin Costner's strong point. The script was all over the place. I wasn't sure what the montage at the end of the movie was trying to accomplish. It seemed to appear all of a sudden and, just like the script, jumped all over the place. Was I being shown a flash forward? A preview of the upcoming movies? It just seemed really pasted together.

-Kevin Costner seems to have jumped ship from Yellowstone to work on the epic set of films and in doing so, seems to be trying to "one up" Taylor Sheridan's series 1883 and 1923. Not sure what Kevin Costner needs to prove, but it seems like with this set of films, he's trying to prove himself to be the better story teller. In my opinion he's no better or worse than T. S. but leaving a T. V. series where you're a major character with major loose ends to tie up just to create a similar project smells a tad bit petty. This film almost seems like K. C. has bit off more than he can chew. This is not the way to engage theatre goers to invest in a four set of three hour films.

Horizon is watchable and even enjoyable in parts. The cinematography was well executed, a visual feast in places, and there were some interesting story arcs. However, I've never seen a movie so messed up by atrociously bad editing. Several times while watching I found myself wondering what the hell was going on. Had I missed a scene? How did we get here? Then it really goes haywire towards the end without even referencing what it is doing. As if someone has fast forwarded the movie.

The we come to the story and script... if you were expecting a viscerally raw portrayal of the realities of the old west similiar to Cormac McCarthy's 'Blood Meridien', you'll be sorely disappointed. Horizon is more akin to 'Little House on the Prairie'. Some of the dialogue and interactions are embarrassingly mawkish. Your sense of credibility is stretched to breaking point.

After you've finished watching Horizon, and someone who hasn't seen it asks you what it was about, you're likely to scratch your head and say, 'Er..........'.

I get the feeling Costner has bitten off more than he can chew with this production. He seems to have aimed for 'the western to end all westerns'. In my opinion, he's fallen far short of that. I hope the remaining 'chapters' save the day but I wouldn't bet on it.

Costner is back where he belongs, in a epic Western. A passion project he's had for years. It has a slow pace and it's ok, it works. The cinematography was great, you can see his passion for the West. The score was fantastic, and I'm looking forward to hearing more. Interesting characters and stories, eager to see the paths they eventually go down. This has a very impressive cast so far and I'm curious how much this will expand in the next three parts. Looking forward to seeing where it takes us. We only have to wait until August for part two. Parts three and four are filming now and expected next year.