Film Journal 2024: Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1

Film Journal 2024: Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1
Directed by Kevin Costner

Horizon is essentially taking an episodic format and giving it a cinematic mold to play within. Whatever one ultimately thinks of this grand experiment I think you have to admit the risk is bold, intriguing and, in my opinion, ultimately worth seeing how it plays out.

Here is what is most interesting to me: I am personally not the biggest fan of episodic series/television. For me, series/television is driven by storytelling while cinema is driven by theme and form by their natures, and I resonate far more with the latter than I do with the former. More to this point, the audience I saw it with were clearly there on the basis of their investment in Yellowstone. What they were finding on screen was resonances that played off of this sense of familiarity, and from what I could gauge it was working for them. It is edited like a series, it is basically 3 hours of set up to what will ultimately be the equivalent of a 9 episode saga, and it has the tone and feel of the series, albeit on a bigger scale, at least based on the little I know of it.

Me? I was there because I was excited for a return to a seemingly long dead genre- the old fashioned western steeped in practical set pieces, grand mythologies, vistas, and period recreations. So how did it work for me on this front? A bit of a mixed bag, but overall I enjoyed it. It features a dynamic score, a few thrilling and prolonged action sequences, and lots of interpersonal drama. When I say lots, there are a LOT of characters here representing different factions that all gradually converge as the story moves forward.

It’s tough to make a true analysis of part 1 since it is all set up with little to nothing in the way of conclusion. But what we do get was enough to leave me hopeful that the cinematic  vision will bear out something thematically when all three films are released. The film ends on what is basically a prolonged trailer for the next films. And it looks exciting. Certainly enough to hook me into coming back for more.

For those who think this should have just released as a series, I’ll offer this. I do think all the people who dug Yellowstone, which is quite a few, would have really dug this as a series. Going the route of three films helps reach people like me. And I have to imagine this thing will eventually find fresh legs on streaming down the road. Going this route not only allows it a chance to earn some money, it gives it that extended lifespan later on with the streaming money. I think the inevitable headlines that will come out calling it a box office failure are going to fail to take all this into consideration. It might still be a risk, but I think it has some decent theorizing and potential behind it. And more importantly it’s a decent first installment to see in theaters.