The latest entry in Kevin Costner’s four-part Western, Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2, premiered at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, and select outlets have weighed in on whether the film is a project of progress or a bumpy ride along a dusty trail. Costner’s Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 launched to mixed reactions, with many from its Cannes debut saying the over-long film lacked punch despite being a love letter to the Western genre Costner loves so much. After Chapter 1 failed to find its audience in theaters, New Line/WB rushed the film to digital platforms, hoping to recover dollars from an unexpected upset. To Costner’s credit, he’s determined to see his Horizon project through, though the latest reactions to Chapter 2 aren’t likely to convince others to saddle up for the long haul.
In Leslie Felperin’s review for The Hollywood Reporter, Felperin says Costner’s second three-hour chapter suffers from many of the same problems as the original: “too much setup and not enough payoff; jagged editing that only highlights the lack of harmony between its disparate narrative strands; and cliché-tinged production values that often make it feel corny and old-fashioned, and not in a good way.”
However, Felperin notes that Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2 is more fun than the first. Still, Felperin notes that this feeling could result from Horizon Stockholm syndrome, as they watched the first entry the night before to prepare for the Venice screening. That’s a lot of any movie, especially something as weighted as Horizon. Felperin says Chapter 2 boasts solid female-driven storylines, with Sienna Miller and Georgia MacPhail given a chance to shine in their respective roles.
Disappointingly, Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2 appears to short-change the perspective of its Indigenous characters, lacking the perspective of their land getting invaded by settlers and forced to adapt to white society. Considering the American frontier was built upon the backs of these individuals, this lack of perspective feels like a gross oversight.
Meanwhile, Jessica Kiang of Variety says no one can deny Costner’s flare for the Western genre. His eye for detail from this era of filmmaking makes him an ideal storyteller for the territory, but that doesn’t stop Chapter 2 from becoming an “unwieldy and bewilderingly scattershot” sequel.
Kiang adds that Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2 “has its stirring, majestic set pieces such as a wagon burning or a barn-dance gunfight, and, courtesy especially of J. Michael Muro’s grand cinematography, lots of gorgeously epic shots of the wagon train wending across bright, arid plains or the settlement that will, we imagine, become Horizon, gradually springing up from the dirt. But too often its best-imagined sequences take place on either side of inexplicable gaps, during which the emotional tempo has changed so completely, it leaves viewers forced to wonder if we somehow missed something. This herky-jerk rhythm only increases as we hurtle towards an ending which, once again without warning suddenly segues into a dialogue-free montage of clips from the forthcoming installment.”
Horizon: An American Saga—Chapter 2 does not sound like it will attract new fans to Costner’s Western odyssey or impress those who were disappointed by the first entry. Still, it’s essential to make your own opinion if you’ve got three hours and ten minutes to spare. One could argue there are better ways to spend your movie-watching time, but if epic Westerns are your jam, you could find something special in Costner’s vision, others do not.
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