Review of Hostiles (2017) by John M — 19 Feb 2018

Head north. The year is 1892. We have an Army captain (Christian Bale) who is so close to retirement that he can taste it, and he has made a successful military career out of killing Native Americans. He's got one last mission he must complete: to escort an aging pardoned Cheyenne chief and his family from New Mexico back to their home in Montana.

This was one that came pretty late in the game, but you know I had to give a high profile Western a watch before releasing my Best of the Year List. It's a good premise, too; it's tried, true, and almost always entertaining to watch people that can't stand each other be forced into working with the each other.

I think Hostiles is decent, but it misses the mark of being great. Now they really don't make Westerns like this any more, and this is more in line of the non-Leone Clint Eastwood films. Even the 3:10 to Yuma and Magnificent Seven remakes have big budget flair, and those are the only ones in recent memory that even begin to draw comparisons.

This isn't a movie that is afraid to take its time... and speaking honestly, I kind of wish this moved faster. It is leisurely paced, even by Western standards, and calling this a slow burn wouldn't really explain it.

It is well put together, but it is plodding, and by the time this was finally wrapping up with a climax, I was growing pretty restless. Breaking it down to basics, this has too many monologues in it, and I don't feel like most of them add too much to the overall package.

If you cut out six or seven of them, there could have had 20 - 30 minutes shaved off, and then I'd be on the same page with this movie. Hostiles is well made, and it's not like director Scott Cooper is incompetent or anything.

I do really like the setup, and I like that there is actually reasons given for the hatred that is felt from all parties; it's not like there is racism just for the sake of being unsavory, these people hate each other because it is all that they have known their entire life.

I also like how this finishes strong at the end, I just wish this story was told more efficiently.