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<\/a><\/div>\nHorizon: An American Saga<\/i> is a beautiful eulogy for the entire genre that cements Kevin Costner\u2019s return from the big screen, freed from the confines of yee-haw Taylor Sheridan\u2019s Yellowstone<\/i>. It\u2019s grand in scale and audacious in a way like no other filmmaker has attempted before \u2013 Chapter 1 of a multiple part epic, self financed out of his own income \u2013 only someone with the fame and celebrity of Costner can attempt to pull this off, and what\u2019s more, he dares not to make himself the centre of attention, showing up an hour in with one of the coolest movie star entrances you\u2019ll see. And make no mistake about it \u2013 Costner is a movie star; and the movies have never been more back \u2013 his love and affection for John Ford evident with every passing second of this near three hour epic.\n<\/p>\n We\u2019re introduced to the bleak wasteland of the American frontier. The lure of the old west and how it was won is the focus here; 15 years before, during and following the Civil War, the film takes a journey that spotlights on the families that risked it all to colonise America; an open image shows the Native Americans\u2019 desire to defend their land at all costs, a family is murdered, and then we cut to a town being constructed on the site of their burials \u2013 following the promise of a mythical \u201chorizon\u201d city in the west. Hopes and dreams are everywhere, dashed cruelly at every turn by the reality of the situation. Rich travellers find their ideal comforts have to be sacrificed for the needs of the many, and a prostitute is caught up in her landlord\u2019s scandal when her past catches up to her. It\u2019s every bit of McCabe and Mrs Miller in places, The Wild Bunch in others \u2013 brutal, intense fire-fighting one second and dancing, cheerful optimism the next. There\u2019s a touch of James Cameron\u2019s framing of happiness and euphoria moments before disaster in Horizon<\/i>, the slow mow shots of the villagers dancing before a vengeful Native Indian tribe arrives to butcher them all is one of the most well-crafted set-pieces of the year. Perhaps more impressively, Costner gives the Native Americans a voice of their own and avoids making them being seen as the savages of the old westerns, complex characters who are being driven out of their lands by the white invaders.\n<\/p>\n The structure of this film feels like a long novel; set aside the opening chapter and you\u2019re introduced to our three main players \u2013 Hayes Ellison, the stubborn old war-weary Costner himself, tired but good with a gun, Abbey Lee\u2019s Marigold \u2013 a prostitute who finds herself on the run with him. There\u2019s back and forth double-crossing, a murder at the end of a gorgeously shot stream running through a small desolate village, this is the wild west, alive and thriving with all the attention of an expert. Every scenario looks real and lived in \u2013 it\u2019s your chance to escape into the harsh realities of the west with the thunderous triumph of Costner\u2019s mad ambitions \u2013 the wagon train narrative running through Horizon<\/i> keeps audiences hooked just as much as the attack of the Western Apache warband. We follow these characters through hell and we get empathy for them in the best way possible \u2013 all of this feels like set-up, as if it were a three hour long pilot of the most audacious mini-series you\u2019ll see this side of Twin Peaks: The Return, but in its ode to the wild west Costner crafts a legend unlike any of its ilk. How America was made? May not be the best tagline \u2013 slap it with \u201cHow America Was Taken\u201d for a better approach, but the film shows the ruthlessness of both sides effectively. Character struggles are everywhere, flawed, desperate souls fighting for their own pot of land.\n<\/p>\n With Chapter Two<\/i> due to come later this summer, it\u2019s clear that Costner is drawing from the experience of his work on Yellowstone<\/i> to tell this story \u2013 its incomplete nature is close to that of Dune: Part One<\/i>, and we all know that Dune: Part Two<\/i> was worth the wait in its commitment to being a follow on. The fact that we\u2019re getting the two films so close together shows that Costner isn\u2019t messing about. Whether you spent time in the muck and the dirt on the Santa Fe trail or on the wasteland of frontier territory where the Kitteridge mother and daughter duo (Sienna Miller and Georgia Macphail) survive a raid by hiding in a makeshift escape tunnel frantically fighting their way to stay alive \u2013 it\u2019s an awe inspiring tale that that Costner directs with an air of gravitas that reminds you his status as a movie star; both in front and behind of the camera. The days of the old west on film are something that he longs to return to.\n<\/p>\n Sam Worthington, Luke Wilson, Michael Rooker, Will Patton, Jena Malone, and Jeff Fahey are all players in Horizon<\/i>. They shine in their respective roles whether they\u2019re a First Ltd or a Sgt. Major. It\u2019s refreshing to see Rooker utilised outside of James Gunn\u2019s filmography. These characters are distinguished, distinctive, full of style and gravitas. There\u2019s no room for revisionist westerns here \u2013 if you\u2019re looking for a darker, edgier Django Unchained<\/i> this is not it \u2013 Horizon<\/i> is the rarest of rare breeds \u2013 a true, Gunsmoke<\/i> western for those raised on that style of television. It\u2019s a television show; Abel Gance\u2019s Napoleon<\/i> for the original wild west. You expect a \u201cthis season on\u2026\u201d style conclusion when like The Three Musketeers: D\u2019Artagnan<\/i>, it ends with a heavy sneak preview of what\u2019s to come: for a second you\u2019re left wondering, is this a time-jump? But it\u2019s easy to pick up on what\u2019s to come and if you\u2019ve adjusted to the film\u2019s wavelength you\u2019ll be right back for more.\n<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/a><\/div>\n