When you hear the phrase as American as apple pie or baseball I would add Westerns to that. Sure there are spaghetti westerns, Spanish Westerns, and Australian Westerns, but generally speaking Westerns are an American genre of film. With that being said Kevin Costner is another American treasure. He has a history of making great Westerns. His latest film Horizon: An American Sage Chapter 1 is the beginning of an epic Western story.  With his history in this genre, he once again does a great job bringing his fans and those of Westerns to the beginning of an amazing journey.

This epic Western brings viewers to 1865 in the Old West on the outskirts of the established United States. In such areas as the Kansas territory, the San Pedro Valley, Wyoming, and other areas west of the Mississippi. There are four main stories that are seen that go back and forth featuring a great cast of characters that are made up of families, friends, enemies, and military personnel at the onset of the Civil War. These stories are gripping, and horrific and set the stage for the three future films in this series.

Costner calls in a lot of favors from actors he’s worked with before like Micheal Rooker, and many others. He assembled an amazing cast of character actors that include Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Danny Huston, Abbey Lee, Luke Wildon, Will Patton, Jenna Malone, and the list goes on and on. In the four stories, these actors play settlers on the Oregon Trail, in New Town, Native Americans, mountain settlements, and mining communities. All these stories will eventually connect with the main connection being the title of the movie Horizon which is the name of a new town that was on the precipice of being established.

Costner relied on other friends behind the screen as well. He co-wrote the screenplay with Mark Baird and the story was from Mark Kasdan. This is a story that has been many years in the making.  Costner and company wanted to give a true representation of what the Old West was really like and this does that impeccably well with this dense and layered story that still has many layers to peel off.  There is still a lot of story left to tell in the next film and subsequent others that will come in the years to follow. I was completely intrigued by where the four stories started and where they’re going in future films.

With this being a Western you know it’s going to have a beautiful look to it. Set in various Western areas of the country that looked similar to the places in the title cards that said where the four stories were set. There are many shots of mountains covered with snow or foliage trees, beautiful valleys with grass, and a flowing river or burnt orange narrow hoodoo mountains. The bottom line is this movie has some of the best cinematography of any film I’ve seen all year. It’s a gorgeous sprawling spectacle. Which is what I want in a great Western. This is awards-worthy cinematography. 

This story is just getting started though so for those that have said it’s like a television show they are correct. It’s introducing the players and once that happens the main story can then move forward. I feel it’s like Game of Thrones in the first season where all the family members and side characters were introduced. Once viewers see these characters then their stories can proceed.  Then things really get going for the next three films in the series. I’m completely invested after seeing this first movie in what ultimately will be a franchise, because of the characters and stories.

The thing about this film that I noticed right away was Costner was going for an unflinching look at the Old West. He did show a PG version of this time in history. Right from the get go he showed brutal violence, burning down of settlements , and men killing men for the slightest of infractions. I’ve seen realistic oportrayels of the Old West before, but Costner wants people to see this was a difficult time in history and nobody was spared from the brutal bloody violence that could happen at the drop of a hat. I like that from this film. I don’t sugar coated versions of what happened in history. I want the most realistic version I can get.

I’m a fan of Westerns going back decades. High Noon, Once Upon a Time in the West, and Unforgiven are some of my all-time favorite films.  Costner has been in a few good Westerns with Dances With Wolves wied rinning him best picture and ditor. The combination of these two things can be magic in a movie theater. I see the potential of this franchise getting better and better with each subsequent film that gets released. Horizon: An American Saga has the scale and enormity of a great Western. It’s just the beginning of what will ultimately be something great. This one was very good, but the greatness factor will soon come in the next three films. What I saw was great so far though and I can’t wait for the three future installations. 

4 ½ stars

Dan Skip Allen