Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1

My passion for old school western films started way back in the 80´s at the home of my school friend Nicklas house. His parents subscribed to a VHS video cassette club and they would get monthly VHS releases where they also could order certain films if they wanted to see something else other than the monthly new release. Nicklas family turned out to be big fans of legendary western director Sergio Leone and they used to buy all of his western classics on VHS, even the titles that i have never heard of before. I remember going through the titles on Nicklas VHS shelf where of course several titles were the real classics with Clint Eastwood. It was actually thanks to Nicklas family i discovered all the Sergio Leone films so i am forever grateful that they introduced me to his filmography. I also remember seeing the western film Silverado on VHS starring legendary actors Danny Glover, Kevin Costner, Brian Dennehy, Jeff Goldblum, John Cleese, Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, Jeff Fahey and many more. I did borrow Silverado and watched it at home and had a really good time with this amazing cast. Speaking of Kevin Costner i had already watched him in several other great films at that time with titles such as the gangster movie The Untouchables ( which also have an amazing cast ), the thriller No Way Out and of course the 1988 classic Bull Durham. I think it is safe to say that one of the true classics of Kevin Costner really came in the year of 1990 when he released his epic western film Dances With Wolves who also produced and directed this film. A very well made western film with really strong characters, a powerful story and the film still to this day looks really good. Even if this may be the biggest western film from Kevin Costner i also enjoyed his 1994 western film adaptation of Wyatt Earp and the 2003 western film known as Open Range. If you have not seen any of these films i highly recommend watching them on streaming or a physical copy. Earlier this year i heard that Kevin Costner is releasing his next western movie project called Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 since this is supposed to be 4 films if i understand correctly and the second chapter is coming out later this year. Since i have always loved the western films of Kevin Costner of course i had to see this film on the big screen. Is this another epic western release from this legendary actor and director, or is Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 not as good as i was hoping it would be?

In 1859, at the San Pedro Valley of Southeastern Territorial Arizona, two seperate parties of surveyors mark stakes on oppisite sides of the San Pedro River to outline the homestead lots of a forthcoming frontier town, Horizon. While riding through this location, a missionary named Desmarais ( Angus Macfadyen ) finds the three dead bodies killed by Apache people. He buries their bodies and establish the town of Horizon. In 1863, a now American homesteader-settled Horizon is set upon an Apache raid led by Pionsenay ( Owen Crow Shoe ), killing several residents, including the husband and son of Frances Kittredge ( Sienna Miller ). A settlement boy Russel Ganz ( Etienne Kellici ) escapes on horseback during the carnage to alert the Army at the nearby Camp Gallant. A detachment of United States Union Cavalry an Infantry arrives led by 1st Lt. Trent Gephardt ( Sam Worthington ), Sgt. Major Thomas Riordan ( Michael Rooker ), and Neron Chavez ( Alejandro Edda ). They assist with the burial of the dead, search for the track of the raiding party, and help with the survivors. Russel joins a posse team, led by fellow survivor Elias Janney ( Scott Haze ) to go after the responsible Apaches.

Knowing that this genre means a lot for director Kevin Costner you can tell that from a production standpoint. The time period feels realistic, the costume design feels realistic as well and of course the shooting locations are beautiful with lovely cinematography from legendary cinematographer J. Michael Muro (  who did brilliant work on The Abyss and Terminator 2 and other classics as well ). In some ways you could probably say that Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 is a love letter to western fans all over the world, because there are a lot of details here that western fans want to see in a film such as this. If you appreciate a classic story telling like we used to get in older western films of the past i can tell you right now you will find it in this film. Maybe not as powerful as Dancing With Wolves of course because that is such a unique film, there are still details to appreciate with this film. So let´s talk about what i feel works best with this Horizon - Chapter 1. Since this is a 3 hours film you might think it´s difficult to understand the plot with several characters. Thankfully it´s easy to understand the timeline and some of the choices that certain characters do throughout the film. I think this was a good choice making a film that´s not too complicated since it can cause problems to a film over 3 hours long if you don´t make the film interesting. The acting in general is pretty good from most of the actors ( especially the native indigenous actors ), i would say there are a few actors who could have done better but otherwise i have nothing to complain about. Of course the strongest acting performance comes from Kevin Costner as the character Hayes, and even if he shows up quite late in the film his scenes are definetely the best when it comes to delivering dialogue. One of the issues i have is that certain scenes have a bit too much drawn out dialogue that takes a bit too long. I do feel though that the film in general does a great job capturing the true spirit of western films we remember from the past and director Kevin Costner proves once more he knows how to make this genre come back to life. If you are a true western fan i think you should pick up this film on physical media no matter if you prefer DVD or blu ray. Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 gives a promising start of a series of several films and i am already looking forward to the next chapter later this year.

Rating: DDD