Horizon: An American Saga, Kevin Costner’s Crazy Project (review)
A large fresco conceived as a cinema monument, but which operates on alternating current: sometimes flamboyant, often heavy, still very long.
What is Kevin Costner in 2024? Everyone seems to agree: he’s the veteran of Dancing with the wolves, became a global superstar again with Yellowstonea contemporary western series breaking all audience records that the actor allowed himself to leave at the height of his success. To do what? Cinema, of course. And not just any old way: by putting all his money on the table and producing his ultimate great western fresco himself, Horizon. He is a real landowner – like his character Yellowstoneself-assured and straight-laced – that Costner has made four (maybe five, maybe six, for that matter) three-hour films that revolve around a utopian town somewhere on the frontier during the Civil War, with Indians, soldiers, settlers, bounty hunters, outlaws, entrepreneurs, everyone.
This “chapter 1” is still heavy, very academic, crossed by just as many great moments (the night attack on the village, the discussion between Costner and a outlaw along a slope, the ensuing shootout) than boring passages, even incomprehensible ellipses given the length of the work. Yes, it’s like watching an entire season of a long-running TV series condensed into three hours of film. We feel that the big subject, the mythological foundation of America, is simmering beneath the surface. But didn’t Costner bring it to the surface in 1997 with Postmanhis ambitious post-apocalyptic fresco – already three hours long, already with Will Patton and Giovanni Ribisi, both back in Horizon – where he was resurrecting the USA from the ashes of war?
Experience it: Once you get out ofHorizonfeel free to review Postman to wait until Chapter 2, scheduled for September 11.
From Kevin Costner. With Kevin Costner, Abbey Lee, Sienna Miller… Duration 3h01. Released on July 3, 2024
