'Hostiles' A Review

Hostiles is a western set in 1892 about soon-to-retire Captain Blocker(Christian Bale) and his last mission- to escort prisoner of war Yellow Hawk(Wes Studi) and his family from the New Mexico fort where they've been incarcerated for years to his tribal lands in Montana. After encoutntering and folding in the survivor of a raid Mrs. Quaid(Rosamund Pike) Blocker, his soldiers, and the prisoners have to contend with a number of varied enemies and problems, as well as prejudice, along their journey.

Bale is immersive and compelling as he always is, certainly one of the greatest actors working today, he has a seamless chemistry with the other actors in his unit, he speaks Cheyenne with a surprising delicacy, and he makes the suspect psychological journey his character goes on almost believable. Studi and the other Native actors aren't given given nearly enough time to develop, they are no question capable and interesting performers but they have very little to do, for a movie ostensibly about the coming together of these polarized groups one of them remains sorely under represented. Pike's performance, save for one riveting silent grave-digging scene, is flat and bizarrely out-of-place almost Cageian in its mechanical and presentational tone. Clearly a substantial amount of work was done by the other soldiers under Bale's characters command. Jonathan Majors is especially exceptional, sharing a scene with Bale that is easily the best of the film and shows the potential that either because of the script, direction, edit, or studio involvement was not reached. Rory Cochrane is also a refreshing competent presence.

Visually the film is stunning, wide panoramic plains and vistas, forests and mountains. Really rich epic scenery. Unfortunately the film doesn't trust the audience to pick up on any emotional and moral complexity so the Message, the Theme, are so blatant and cumbersome and ineffective it undermines what could have been a great film.

Worth a watch for the actors and scenery but not worth paying for.

Rent It.