Horizon: An American Saga

Well my wife expressed interest in this Kevin Costner western, and since I am a pretty big fan of 1990's "Dances With Wolves", especially the four-hour director's cut, I was willing to invest the 180 minutes that the film's run time promised in this movie. FWIW, I have never seen the "Yellowstone" TV show that Costner has done in recent years, so can't compare it to that.

Anyway, I had mixed feelings about "Horizon", mostly on the negative side. The movie is a three hour western, that part of the billing is confirmed. But the "Saga" part, not nearly so much. "Horizon" does not IMO have any kind of compelling stories. Western cliches abound in this film. And while the movie reportedly cost $50 million, I didn't see it on the screen. I know $50m doesn't necessarily go far in today's movie making environment, but I was unimpressed by "Horizon's" production values. It has the look and feel of a TV show moreso than a real film. Maybe the money went to the cast - in addition to KC himself, we get good character actors like Luke Wilson, Danny Huston, Jena Malone, and Sam Worthington in various roles. But with so many great western epics, "Sagas" to compare it to, Horizon just doesn't come off looking very good.

That said, Costner has always had a knack for making commercially appealing movies, and Horizon has some of that. While the film was utterly surface level and unsurprising, I was never bored, never dozed off during the entire 180 minutes. And, I will probably end up going to see "Chapter 2" when it is released in a couple of months. So there obviously was enough entertainment value there, for me at least.

C .... Can't recommend it on the merits, but I also can't dismiss it either.