Review of Hostiles (2017) by Ray Z — 10 Dec 2018

Say what you want about what you wanted the plot and moral to be for this story - it sets up a hypothetical story from the 1890's and delivers on all counts. The acting is wonderful on almost all counts and the scenery (with help from special effects) is convincing.

Without having to resort to over-the-top blood and guts, the emotions of the battle scenes are raw and simple. The movie seems to drag at times compared to an Avengers movie, so just accept that there is actual character development occurring here and not just a series of battle scenes.

The questions this story evokes are: Who is the hero/anti-hero, if any? Who are the real hostiles? Are we all hostiles? Can we really learn respect (or even forgive) those who we currently hate? Can anything good ever come out of the government (for you political types) There is a minimalist spiritual theme embedded (for you spiritual types) if you dare to search for it.

There are also many directions you can take from the ending. I only suggest that you NOT see this movie alone as there is much to discuss and this discussion will help offset the "dark" nature of this movie.

There is much for everyone (except the younger kiddies who would be challenged by the many emotions and conflicts in this film) in this incredible movie/story. Plot problems are there if you try to compare this to a documentary on some real event and some attempts at political correctness can be noted, but easily forgiven.