Westerns, at their cores, typically deal in absolutes. The hero(s) and villain(s) are usually pretty straight forward without much, if anything, in the way of moral ambiguity. There’s a purity in that type of storytelling, derived from its simplicity, that has stood the test of time. Tales of revenge and honor are easy to romanticize. It’s a big part of the reason why the film genre has continued to hold its place, even in contemporary cinema. While adherence to genre norms has provided a comfort zone to filmmakers over decades, during which plenty of quality films have been made, that level of reverence hasn’t done much to advance the genre. Hostiles utilizes the familiar in order to cultivate a more richly layered and complex narrative, blurring traditionally rigid lines.
Writer/Director Scott Cooper went about this film in quite brutal fashion right from the very beginning. Not every filmmaker is going to take that kind of risk right out of the gates, but it certainly set the tone for the rest of the story. Set in 1892, the plot follows a group of US soldiers tasked with returning captive natives in New Mexico to their rightful homeland in Montana. Needless to say, their journey is burdensome and equally dangerous but it provides a canvas to paint a much broader picture of the interrelation of the natives and settlers. The adapted screenplay comes from a Donald E. Stewart (Hunt For Red October) manuscript which clearly had an eye on the treatment of the indigenous peoples at the end of the 19th century, but wasn’t shy to point out the barbarism on both sides. Cooper utilized a natural approach to shooting the film which took full advantage of locations which highlighted period authenticity and brought the actors into that reality as much as possible, resulting in several strong performances. Steadied by Donald Graham Burt’s production design, the director found both genuineness and genre specificity. It’s too early in the year to know exactly where Cooper’s work will put him at year’s end, but the film is certainly one of the best films of 2018 and could wind up as pinnacle western for a new generation.
At the head of a deep and talented cast is Christian Bale. Never one to shy away from challenging roles, Bale assumed the role of notorious army captain Joseph J. Blocker who’s something of a legend for his brutality and hatred towards the natives. “Joe” is a complex character. Having seen the horror of the conflict up close and personal, he’s fueled by hatred….molded by it. On one hand, plenty of his men, his friends, were butchered by natives looking to send a message. On the other, he became every bit the savage when it came to getting retribution for his fallen comrades. Bale had to go through a wide range of emotions while maintaining some sense of stoicism and he did so with the command we’ve become accustomed to throughout his career. It’s been a while since he’s portrayed a character as dark as this, but he did great job making that darkness accessible to the audience. He continues to showcase why he is one of the best actors of his generation and could find himself in awards contention at the end of the year once again.
Opposite Bale, Rosamund Pike flashed moments of brilliance and was consistently strong in her portrayal of the widow Rosalie Quaid. There are some truly gut-wrenching moments where Pike really shines, nearly tearing the flesh from her own face in sheer terror. That physical style of acting, combined with a hollow thousand-yard stare, brought life to a character who would usually sit on the sidelines in a western. Life on the frontier wasn’t kind to anyone and it’s long overdue to see it from a woman’s perspective. Mrs. Quaid had quite a lot on her plate emotionally and thankfully, Pike did the character justice without pandering to the audience. After gaining worldwide recognition for her role in Gone Girl, she continues to show the talent that made her a star. She too could be taking home some hardware during the next awards season.
This was an exceptional cast and it’s of little surprise Francine Maisler was right there in the thick of things along with Jo Edna Boldin and Rene Haynes doing the casting. Alongside Bale, Rory Cochrane gave a surprisingly captivating performance as Master Sergeant Thomas Metz. A long time friend of Joe’s, it becomes readily apparent that the conflict with the natives and the disregard for human life has driven him to the brink of madness. Cochrane is both wild and calculated, frighteningly apathetic and bizarrely remorseful. Serving as a something of a moral compass, Metz is a pendulum of emotion and Cochrane plays the swings with manic and painful precision.
Probably most recognizable for his roles in Last of the Mohicans and Dances With Wolves, Wes Studi is one of the go-to Native American actors. If you’ve seen any film where natives are portrayed, then odds are you’ll recognize Studi. In this what amounts to something of a full-circle role for the veteran actor, he played the elder Chief Yellow Hawk who’s facing down his final days battling cancer. As Joe’s long time adversary, watching the two men attempt to find common ground is really what the film is all about. He doesn’t have much dialogue throughout the film, but the little he does is impactful and his screen presence lends esteem to every scene he’s in. Adam Beach is another one of those guys and his roles in Flags of Our Fathers and Windtalkers established him as such. Adding him to the project as Yellow Hawk’s son Black Hawk was both a smart and easy decision. Again, the dialogue is relatively limited but that doesn’t take away from its importance. Beach’s performance was anchored by believability more than standout exceptionalism, but the quality of his work is always strong and his character was easy to sympathize with.
Another familiar face from the Native American acting scene,Q’orianka Kilcher played the role Black Hawk’s wife, Elk Woman. She gained prominence playing Pocahontas in The New World alongside Colin Farrell and, coincidentally, Christian Bale. Unfortunately, she too has little in the way of dialogue but still manages to be a relatable character. She certainly had a richer story to tell but does a good job given the constraints of the role itself. Speaking of actors reuniting with Bale in period pieces, Ben Foster has a small role here after the pair starred together in the highly underrated remake of 3:10 to Yuma. He shows up late in the game playing Sergeant Charles Wills, a disgraced soldier serving mostly as a moral mirror to Bale’s character. Foster always brings his unique style of brooding intensity to the table and continues to be one of the most undervalued talents in Hollywood.
Good westerns rely on strong cinematography to capture the natural beauty of the landscape, help build scope and scale while reinforcing a desolate tone. Masanobu Takayanagi crafted some immaculate wide shots to encompass the pristine wild and establish a clearly identified visual character for the film. Max Richter enriched that aesthetic with a profound and moving original score. The story alone was already loaded with tension, but the score does an exceptional job intensifying those moments and stirring emotional cues along the way. It may be easy to overlook the importance of these elements of filmmaking in other genres, but they play much larger parts in westerns and Richter and Takayanagi deserve much credit for their contributions to the quality of the finished product.
This is already a long film with a runtime north of two-hours, but it seems Tom Cross had trouble letting go in the editing room. Utilizing the beautiful landscape shots to set the tone is important, but the overuse of dissolves to connect the shots gets both tiring and annoying near the end, especially when it amounts to the redundant imagery of a string of horses crossing a large open area. A good 10 minutes could have been cut from the film in just those shots alone. As far as the narrative aspect is concerned, there is little in the way of real concern paid to the natives. While it’s important the film took time to clearly identify and push the theme of mistreatment towards the indigenous peoples, the Native Americans in the film are mostly tertiary characters serving the function of driving forward the plot points for the white people whom the story is actually about. Little regard is paid to the strife Yellow Hawk and his family are going through or why which makes it even more defeatist to leverage those characters to define the goodness or lack thereof with the film’s white characters. There is a peculiar plot with some challenging character dynamics that make for a story worth watching, but the problems with the film are mainly editing choices and the narrative focus.
Recommendation: If you’ve already seen all of the best options from 2017, like myself, then this is the way to go. There is plenty to like about the film, but it’s brutal, slow and long. If you enjoy westerns then there’s no reason you wouldn’t enjoy this movie if your not overly critical. Even with the problems I was able to identify, the movie was still mostly enjoyable as a whole.
Grade: B