Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 review — a bloated, disjointed start to Costner's western epic

It was hard not to be fascinated by Kevin Costner's new western epic Horizon: An American Saga in the buildup. This is the movie he seemingly chose over his hit series Yellowstone. He filmed the first two movies (of a supposedly planned four) back-to-back and is releasing them both in a seven week span. And by all reports spared no expense in bringing his passion project to life. All of that had us so intrigued we named it our most anticipated summer blockbuster of 2024. Now that we've seen it, it quickly falls into our most disappointing movies of 2024.

Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 is a three-hour long journey to nowhere. There are so many characters, locations and storylines that have the barest of connective tissue, resulting in a disjointed story that is more likely to confuse than entertain. Then the movie simply ends with no resolutions or even satisfying stopping points, just with a promise that more excitement is on the way in the form of a "tune-in next time" preview; but even that is so chaotic it's hard to understand where everything is going.

Starring, directed and co-written (with Jon Baird) by Costner, Horizon is a multi-year story of "how the west was won — and lost — through the blood, sweat and tears of many." The challenge for Chapter 1 is that it has to introduce three completely independent storylines where the only thing in common is that the characters all seem to be heading toward a place called Horizon, which they've learned of from a flyer that promises prosperity.

That's all well and good, as it serves as a tangible representative of the idea of Manifest Destiny that drove westward expansion across the United States in the 19th century and a natural way for all of these storylines to eventually merge. However, Chapter 1 is nowhere near that point and even with its three hour runtime it never gives any storyline enough time to effectively endear us to the characters making the journey and their reasons for doing so.

Starting with Costner, he plays Hayes Ellison, a loner who travels from job to job that is forced to go on the run with a young woman, Marigold (Abbey Lee), that he just met from dangerous men. The backstory as to why these men come after them is simply put forth so they can say its not out of left field, but the actual motivation for Costner's Hayes and Marigold is never explored, making them bland, unrelatable characters outside of the fact that he's supposed to be the hero and she a woman in need of his help.

Another storyline is a wagon train heading west led by Luke Wilson's Matthew Van Weyden. We spend even less time with this plot, but to its credit it's characters are more varied and has potential for interest, even though again nothing of note actually happens to them in this initial outing.

The best storyline actually follows a group of people that have already settled at Horizon and features the likes of Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Michael Rooker, Scott Haze and Owen Crow Shoe. We spend the most time with this storyline and it's here where the Horizon shows any sign of life. Though it has multiple subplots of its own, they are varied, interesting enough and connected to each other. One can only wonder if Costner had just focused all the energy into this part of the movie if things would have worked out better?

But that's not what Costner chose to do, as he went for the whole enchilada and clearly bit off more than he can chew in his first directorial outing in 20 years. But the thing is we know that he can direct westerns, with both his underrated Open Range a thoroughly entertaining watch and his Best Picture-winning Dances with Wolves a contemplative, epic reflection on the meaning of the west.

Could he redeem himself with Chapter 2 when that hits theaters on August 16? Yes, there's always the chance the movies work better as a tandem. But that itself is a major problem. If a three-hour movie can only be fully appreciated when viewed with another three-hour movie, then maybe you need to go back to the drawing board. We're past that point however. Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 fails to justify its own existence and now must be rescued by its sequel.

Watch Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 now in movie theaters worldwide.