Horizon : Une saga américaine, chapitre 1

I'm a massive fan of the Western genre, so when I heard that Costner was making this, I couldn't have been more excited. I pre-purchased tickets the day they went on sale. I knew this was going to be Part 1 of a four-part epic, so I fully expected that the story's development would be different than a typical film. Considering that, I was relatively disappointed in this first installment. Without giving any spoilers, here's the context for the whole review: The movie sets up multiple storylines that I expect will converge over the course of the remaining three installments. Each storyline focuses on a different aspect of Western expansion. That said, here's what I liked and was disappointed by.

Let's start with the good.

The subtitle of this film is "An American Saga." It is clear that Costner intends this to be precisely that. The storylines created in this first episode touch on virtually every aspect of Western expansion and the birth of America as we know it today. You have both sides of the conflict between the settlers moving west and the native population already occupying those territories. You have the military and the civil war. You have the "Wild West" component where a specific type of man was drawn to the lawless environs that would allow him to pursue his vices virtually unrestrained. And you have the appetite to take more and profit more, which is such a factor in history.

The story does an excellent job of showing just how difficult life was for virtually everyone in that ecosystem. It adeptly demonstrates the brutality, vulnerability to the elements and conditions, and the sheer amount of work required to live in the West. There are also quite a few subtle examples of very accurate aspects of history and life in the West that show a great deal of attention to detail.

The costumes, sets, and visuals are all what you would expect out of a great western.

Most importantly, the story is interesting. I am interested in what happens moving forward. And the story is unique, which is saying a lot given the current state of Hollywood, where 90% of films being released are just reboots of existing brands and stories we've already seen.

Having said all that, here's why I was disappointed.

To start, the writing could be better. Much of the dialogue is contrived, and several conflicts don't make much sense. In addition, the acting could be better too. Maybe it's the scripts they had to work with, but many actors seem like actors. That might sound weird. What I mean is that you look at them as an actor playing a part in a western rather than buy into them as the character they are playing.

In addition, some of the plot points are hard to follow. It's unclear why characters are making the decisions or why the story took the turn it did. Some characters appear out of nowhere and cause a significant turn of events that don't have rhyme or reason. There are also substantial jumps in time, which by themselves don't bother me. Still, in these cases, it's not obvious that significant time has passed or why the character you just saw in a previous scene is now making the choices they are making with some considerable time that's happened between scenes. (With all of this, I must be purposefully nebulous to avoid spoilers.)

The third aspect that disappointed me was the look of the film. Westerns are known for their epic, cinematic quality. They have a color grading that screams, "Big Feature Film." This movie does not. It looks more like an episode of Yellowstone than a feature film. Also, for fans of the Western genre, those quintessential beautiful landscape shots that make the land a character unto itself are half of the enjoyment. This film doesn't do that. You have a few brief wide shots. But this takes place in Arizona, Wyoming, Montana, and Kansas, giving ample opportunity for gorgeous panoramas. But we don't.

I am reserving judgment until I see the remaining three installments. I was so excited to see a 10 out of 10. Instead, I got a solid 6.8. So I'm rounding up and giving this a 7. Let's hope the remaining three bring up the average and this becomes the film for the ages that I know Costner wanted it to be.

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.

Landscape scenery is amazing! High expectations for Horizon and it starts out disjointed. Trying sew the stories together made it hard to follow.

Storylines are many making it even harder to follow. In time I believe they will come together.

Some time wasted on dialogue and the initial native raid scene.

The clash of two worlds and the splitting of the native world (apache) was very well written. Use of native american actors (speaking native tongue)is awesome.

The US Army parts felt a little too modern. The use of the word "indigenous" just did not sound right for that time. Also we have never been shown US Army compassion from that time period before.

The playful addition of African Americans seems very modern as well. No doubt they were there but living harmoniously with whites is hard to believe.

I will check out the next chapter and I hope the story continues to develop.

I was really looking forward to this movie with a great cast. Finally some real Costner cinema and some good old western action.

Well, I was dissapointed. Yes the filming is great. Beautiful locations. Casting is spot on and the characters look amazing. Real nice.

But. This movie was all over the place. The characters skipped years in one scene and were back in another. The editting is done so terribly that I didnt understand any of the timeline at some point. There are so many flaws like that in this movie that it gets annoying.

Also there are about 4 or 5 different stories n the movie and that doesnt help. The one time you are looking at a hooker with some kid, and the next screne you are in a whole different place where some guys hunt indians.

Costner obviously plays the silent string type who has a sixth sense for danger as he always does. But thats ok. I just hope part 2 will be more coherent.

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.