Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1

Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1

Explore the lure of the Old West and how it was won—and lost—through the blood, sweat and tears of many. Spanning the four years of the Civil War, from 1861 to 1865, embark on an emotional journey across a country at war with itself, experienced through the lens of families, friends and foes all attempting to discover what it truly means to be the United States of America.

  • Released:
  • Runtime: 181 minutes
  • Genre: Drama, Western
  • Stars: Dale Dickey, Kathleen Quinlan, Larry Bagby, James Landry Hébert, Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Jamie Campbell Bower, Luke Wilson, Thomas Haden Church, Jena Malone, Alejandro Edda, Tatanka Means, Isabelle Fuhrman, Michael Angarano, Abbey Lee, Tim Guinee, Scott Haze, Angus Macfadyen, Jon Beavers, Danny Huston
  • Director: Kevin Costner
 Comments
  • brucemiddlemissphotography - 4 July 2024
    Good start to an Epic but not quite right
    I love Kevin Costner and love westerns so went in to this quite positive, I had seen some negative reviews and was aware that this was part 1 of 4.

    Positives:

    I love the multi story lines

    I love the fact that we also see the perspective of the native Americans and they are given their own storylines.

    The cast and acting are so excellent.

    The cinematography is phenomenal as is the soundtrack, especially the music over the bit at the end showing you what's to come.

    There is a real feeling that you are watching something special coming together in Cinema history.

    Constructive feedback:

    I use this and not negatives as KC has put his heart and soul into this and I came out with really happy and that word doesn't do this justice. However I had some niggles...

    Firstly I found that there were jumps in time (KC and the young woman getting to camp). One minute they were in the mountains, next they appeared well established in camp. This was also the case with the Sienna Miller story.

    It almost felt to me as though they had edited too much out of this film, that even though this was a joyous 3 hours of entertainment and only the starting film, it felt as though they had trimmed too much which led to it not quite flowing properly.

    I felt like there was another hours worth of story. It felt like it didn't quite flow and stories and characters not given enough time to fill out.

    I don't mind that there was quite a bit of down time with character development and would have preferred more. Hopefully like Dancing with Wolves we will get a mega directors cut.

    I am hoping that the studio gets more confident in the films and allows them to go on longer if required. My view is, if the film is good, the longer it goes on for the more value for money I get.

    I really Good start to this Epic and just hope they don't trim too much of each story and character because they have decided to have so many stories and perspectives. Also did I miss what happened to Jena Malones character?

    Well worth your money and time.
  • tabuno - 3 July 2024
    An Homage To How The West Was Won (1962)
    This Kevin Costner paid for three hour epic western has all the elements of an epic: big scale, big scenes, big performances, big plot. There is sort of an homage to the western classic How The West Was One (1962) that three directors take to shoot the two and three-quarters hour film. In some ways Costner's movie is even more raw and gritty than Clint Eastwood's Best Picture Oscar, The Unforgiven (1992). Horizon taken from the title name of a flyer that apparently inspires the white man's expansion into the western Americana reveals a tense, layered conflict between the Native Americans and the mostly white settlers and soldiers. Though perhaps not intended. The difficulty of keeping track of the primary characters forces the audience to pay closer attention to the characters and the sometimes horrific trauma many characters suffer. A relatively balanced depth of characterization, the intense action, and the personal drama immerses the audience into a revealing movie that depicts human against human and the tangible necessity of human connections and understanding. The music complements the movie and the cinematography are well-crafted by Kevin Costner's personal perspective. A great emotional and compelling experience on the big screen.
  • joiningjt - 19 June 2024
    Sorry won't base my review on anything except is it entertaining & is it worth my$$ 2 c it
    I have to spend BIG bucks to see a western that's a 4 PART series SORRY not gonna do it wouldn't be prudent at this juncture!

    I'll wait to watch it the way it SHOULD be watched in 2024........STREAMING. This is his attempt to show Yellowstone was a success because of Kevin when in effect it's a hit because we love a great western. Always have always will but it thas to be Entertaining and not 12 hours long. Us older folks need a intermission we can do that AT HOME. TOMBSTONE is still our favorite not that long gets right to the action is intense and doesn't let up till the end. Unforgiven was a little long but 1 film 1 master class by the best Eastwood!! I'd suggest to everyone to do what we're doing waiting for it to be on Netflix!!