Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1

Like Francis Ford Coppola, Kevin Costner is also debuted a partly self-funded passion project at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, though his Western epic Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 is unlikely to provoke the same frenzied talk as Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis.

Three hours long, and with more parts on the way, Horizon feels an oddly flat film, with some of its storylines not fully resolving despite having ample time to do so. With Chapter 2 already shot and out later in the summer, and more apparently on the way, they may need to be seen as a pair or series.

Costner, who directs and stars, leads an ensemble cast that includes Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Giovanni Ribisi, Jena Malone, Abby Lee, Michael Rooker, Danny Huston and Luke Wilson. He plays Hayes Ellison, a taciturn gunslinger moseying around in the American Civil War era.

Horizon refers to the Arizona frontier settlement around which the action is to be gradually tied, with Montana, Wyoming and Kansas also backdrops to several plot strands. An Apache attack on the town makes Miller’s character, Frances, a widow, prompting raiding parties determined to retaliate against the Apache, or any, native Americans. Despite her grief, she begins to fall for Unionist soldier First Lt Trent Gephardt (Worthington).

Meanwhile, Ellison rides into town and becomes lover and protector to Lee’s character, a sex worker named Marigold. Another plot strand features a wagon train led by Matthew Van Weyden (Wilson). We also check in with the Apaches, who debate whether they should continue to attack the settlers moving in on their territory.

If you think this sounds a bit sprawling, then you’d be right. You can’t help but feel that Horizon might have been better off as a prestige TV series like Costner’s streaming hit Yellowstone – that would give Costner the space to do the worldbuilding that is clearly the point of the project.

The positive thing to say about it is that it looks great. Costner knows how to make a Western, having previously enjoyed success with Dances with Wolves and Open Range, and the wide open vistas of America’s West are one of the most cinematic landscapes.

Given Hollywood seems to want to feed audiences an endless diet of superhero or pre-existing IP-based franchises, it’s good that Costner wants to make his Western epics. It’s just a slight shame that Horizon isn’t a tighter, more focused example of the genre. Perhaps later instalments will rectify this and complete a worthwhile “American Saga”.

Mark Worgan

Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 is released nationwide on 28^th June 2024.

Watch the trailer for Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 here: