Review of Hostiles (2017) by Connor S — 30 Jan 2018

Apparently, Hostiles is a hotly anticipated movie, because we've been getting a bunch of calls asking when our theater is going to show "that western movie with Christian Bale." Well, after many weeks of waiting, Hostiles has finally arrived. While it doesn't quite live up to the hype, it's still an overall fine film.

Hostiles opens with a bang. Its first sequence is a harrowing tone-setter with a respectable willingness to shock audiences. Lest you think that scene is shocking for the sake of shock-value, Hostiles is a deeply pensive movie about America's violent frontier spirit with a touch of nihilism. It pulls few punches as it pays homage to classic western tropes and themes, but with a far harsher outlook. Fade-in transitions are applied liberally to convey how expansive the characters' journey is, not just in terms of sheer distance, but also in terms of personal exploration. From a film-making perspective, it only falters in its formulaic approach, as the movie repeats a sequence of traveling, outbursts of violence, and then setting up camp before starting all over.

We find our characters in the middle of their character arcs, rather than before. That's a unique storytelling decision that I don't see often, but it's fraught with risks. A lot of backstory is necessary to understand these characters, but when the actors speak their lines so lowly as to almost be mumbling, we end up missing too much important information. The other mistake is that how underdeveloped the supporting cast is. They either serve to advance Christian Bale's character, or are glorified extras. Bale's character gets a fleshed-out and refreshingly difficult character arc. In one moment early on, jump cuts are used to masterfully express the anguish and confusion he feels, but the attention comes at the expense of everyone else. That's especially baffling when a rising star like Timothée Chalamet (Call me by your Name) is barely used in the movie. For those reasons, I can't call Hostiles a superb movie. To borrow one Redditor's words, it's a supremely average one.