Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1

7/2/2024

Well it's certainly a saga! Against a backdrop of the American Civil war we are introduced to half a dozen different spokes on the wheel of pioneering America that gradually head towards a centre of what I assume will be the creation of the fabric of modern day USA by the end of part four. It begins rather brutally when a woman shoots a man then flees the scene with her infant child. Despite her proximity to the victim he survives and orders his two sons to pursue her. Meantime, there's a wagon train heading across the Apache dominated territory under the command of "Matthew" (Owen Wilson) and, separately, "Hayes" (Kevin Costner) is doing a bit of wintery horse-trading. With the younger Apache restless and determined to do what they can to thwart the encroachment on their ancient hunting g

7/4/2024

<em>'Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1'</em> surpassed my expectations! A three-hour western, which is only the first of many connected entries? Yeah, that doesn't exactly set the pulses racing! Based on that, I was anticipating it to be a slow-moving set-up to future chapters. However, to my surprise this opening installment is a lot of fun. For a film of such a length, it absolutely flies by; this felt like a 2hr, max, movie to me. My main praise for this film is directed at the pacing (evidently), the visuals and the score - the latter is particularly outstanding. I will say there are a fair few scenes that I felt could've been lit better, mainly across the opening chunk - not a big deal, though. There are so many characters in this, some may say too many but honestly I enj

7/9/2024

Kevin Costner channels his inner John Ford with his immense passion project, starting with Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1. Unfortunately, in this initial chapter, he falls short of making a lasting impression akin to Ford's timeless works. Costner serves as the film's producer, director, co-writer, and star, undertaking a monumental task. This film marks the first chapter of a four-part epic series that weaves together the lives of various characters around the territory of 'Horizon'. The saga will span 12 years, with this first film serving to introduce Horizon and its primary characters. The ensemble cast is led by Costner himself, alongside Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Luke Wilson, and many more. While the cast is impressive on paper, the execution leaves much to be desired.

8/7/2024

Feels like an entire season of a TV show compressed into a 3-hour motion picture. It's beautiful to look at, but has no chance to set up its characters and make you care about them, even though it demands it. Not coming back for the sequels.

11/2/2024

"Horizon: “An American Saga – Chapter 1” does not rush anything and provides numerous storylines before fully exploring Kevin Costner’s character, an hour into the show. Speaking of the dynamics, the turn of the century setting’s epic, but gritty representation is complemented by John Debney’s touching score, even though the characters remain poorly developed, and the action almost hilariously paced. What I noticed while watching it, is that pioneer struggles were portrayed quite realistic but I wish the characters were related more intensely. It wouldn’t be wrong to state that yes, the film’s rawness and ‘sex and violence’ do depict the given period and hence is value added to the movie through a rather raw introduction to Costner’s extended story. If you enjoyed my experience, then