Review of Dances with Wolves (1990) by Hussein N — 07 Jan 2018

Beating out hot favourite Goodfellas for the coveted Best Picture award at the Oscars, Dances With Wolves features some stunning landscapes and steady-handed direction which has sufficient scope and patience to catch them.

The cinematic release is 3 hours long, I seen the 4 hours extended cut. For me, if you've made a movie which is 3 hours long and there's still things you need to include, something has gone wrong somewhere along the line.

Many scenes, particularly the nature porn ones, could be trimmed down and some scenes could be omitted altogether. Some last less than 2 minutes and don't serve any purpose at all in terms of narrative or character.

Kevin Costner has never been a famously good actor, and while this might be his best role, sometimes his notoriously stony-faced demeanour and band line deliveries make it hard to buy some of the more emotional moments.

His uncertain bond with the Sioux Indians is the most interesting element, becoming more mundane and routine once he actually ingratiates himself with them. It's nowhere near as tooth-grindingly dull as Terrence Mallick's The New World, another film which is at its most engaging when the characters are in a state of uncertainty, but lets things drag on for too long.

It's definitely worth a single sitting at least, since its themes of intolerance, man in nature and the destruction of an entire way of life will never not be relevant or important. But due to its slow pacing and excessive runtime, it's never something you could watch frequently.