The year was 1984, I used to live in Dhahran (Saudi Arabia) with my parents. I was studying in Lahore and always spent both the summer and winter vacations with my parents in Dhahran. I still remember and cherish those moments, when I was introduced with the Hollywood Western Movies in that same year by my father. I was a movie lover, but after watching the very first western cowboy Hollywood movie, that passion added up and also explored a new cinematic experience for me.
In those days, cinema was prohibited in Saudi Arabia, but ARAMCO was one of the places, where we watched the movies and also drove to Bahrain to enjoy the cinematic experience with full atmosphere.
A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. And Hang ‘Em High were the initial bets movies and that romance still exists with the same passion. Four months back, I watched a trailer of an upcoming movie, HORIZON on YouTube and I was remarkably stunned to watch the trailer as it not only connected me with my childhood romance with the western movies, but also made be irresistible to wait for the release of this movie. As, I got the news of its release, I called upon my video person to download and share the link to watch it. The significant and important aspect of this movie is, that is has been directed by a legendary actor, Kevin Costner. The screenplay, story and also partially produced by him and what made it superb is to watch him acting in this movie. I will share my review of this movie.
Costner landed an Academy Award for his directorial debut, Dances with Wolves, which he followed with 1997’s The Postman and 2003’s Open Range; since then, he’s largely focused on his acting and producing projects, but said he knew he needed to come back to the director’s chair for Horizon.
He added, “There are people that are more talented than myself, I’m sure that [there are] directors [who] really understand the camera, but I believe in story and I believe so much in it that for me I think that comes shining through my movies. I don’t really blow anybody away with my technical understanding of things, I just film the moments and try to put my actors in spots where they can succeed, and I try to shoot them against backgrounds that are undeniable.”
Horizon is a planned four-part film series, with part two set to be released in August and parts three and four currently in the works. Costner leads an ensemble cast in a story that chronicles a 15-year span of pre- and post-Civil War expansion and settlement of the American West. Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Luke Wilson, Jena Malone, Michael Rooker and Jamie Campbell Bower all co-star in the project and weighed in on what Costner was like as a director, with Worthington saying, “He’s got a wealth of cinematic knowledge, he’s worked with some of the greats, and I just tried to listen and take in everything he said and try to learn a little from him.”
Costner has famously been developing the project for years, putting up $38 million of his own money to make the films when no studio would sign on and finance. Producer Tanner Beard told THR of the four-film saga that “there’s nothing like this, especially not exclusive to theaters,” adding that Costner is “probably the bravest person in Hollywood, without question.”
This is a 4-part series, 2 films will come Out this year, you need to view this as a limited series with each movie as one episode, which means episode one or movie 1 will not follow a 3-act structure, or if it does it may not feel like normal films. If you support Costner remember he put up his own money to make this film for us western and civil war era films. I would not pay attention to the critics at all, they are judging this film without remembering it’s part 1 of 4. How many other films tell you ahead of time that you’re getting that many parts? Costner intended to tell the story over 2 years and 4 parts which actually sounds great as that is why most of us prefer television series over film these days because we can invest so much more into the characters. It gives the storyteller much more time to give us character building, storytelling and the little Details that make a great story which is hard to do in a standard 2-3 hr. format. Give it a chance, Costner is rich and this film bombing won’t be the end of him but Costner did something unheard of in Hollywood to try and bring us a genre that a lot of studios won’t touch because they do not normally perform well and he has entertained us for 4 decades!
Overall, it is a remarkable movie and will make you feel the cinematic experience with all its flavors.
This is an epic story that doesn’t pulls punches, it has an incredibly strong cast. The acting performances were quite good throughout. The story felt authentic, I haven’t seen a good western like this in ages. It may seem slow at times but I think it really works for what they are trying to do with the film series. Cinematically it’s good with some great aerial shots.
I don’t feel overly invested in any of the characters yet but at the same time I’m already looking forward to Horizon: Chapter 2.
