Hostiles

⭐ 7.5/10

This is a movie about Christian Bale being assigned to transport a dying Cheyenne chief across America. The problem is that Bale is a military leader that has been fighting indigenous people his whole life, so he doesn't want to. Can a long march in close proximity, and the breathtaking backdrop of the great plains change his attitudes?? 

So I think the whole "racist becoming less racist" trope didn't really work, and rarely does. It doesn't really work for the modern audience, nor does it work within a 19th century context. I just think the cowboys vs Indians relationship is too fraught, too complex, and too hard to make sense of in any meaningful way within the scope of a single movie. I do appreciate this movie trying to introduce some levels of complexity, but it almost tried a little too hard and everything gets a bit muddled. 

But there is much more to this movie than that narrative. There is some interesting stuff about cycles of violence, and even like, the mindset of a killer which I all thought was interesting. It's all done with some absolutely terrific talent. Bale, Rosamund Pike, Jesse Plemmons, Timothee Chalamet (with his best role yet), Ben Foster, and then Wes Studi as the chief (who I knew from Res Dogs). Seriously, completely loaded cast. However, this movie leaned a little too hard into slow conversations around the fire, which is my favorite kind of conversation, but you can't have like 8 scenes like this in one movie. Honestly, a little melodramatic. 

But far and away my favorite part of this movie was the videography and those beautiful western vistas. I watched this movie for the purpose of seeing some nice scenery and that's exactly what I got. This movie spans from New Mexico to Montana, and lemme tell ya, I need to make that journey on horseback because it looks amazing. This seems to be the route that cowboys take on every western epic and I love it because it covers all the most beautiful places on earth. This, along with some nice music was everything I was looking for. 

So yeah, a bit of a sappy, emotional western that didn't always work for me, but it was beautiful and had some nice moments to go along with it.