The very first scene of Scott Cooper’s (Crazy Heart, Out of the Furnace) under-the-radar Hostiles lets you know one thing right off the bat. We get a 10-minute scene where a four-person group of Comanche warriors comes rolling out of nowhere and attacks a family of five in the brutalist of fashions before burning down the ranch and taking off with their horses. After this scene, the title Hostiles pops up on the screen, and we quickly know that we are in for something different than Will Smith’s Wild Wild West. This movie is not for the weak at heart. If you do not like tragedy, this film is not for you. If you have the stomach for, sometimes, senseless killing, characters who carry anger so deep that it burns their souls and guilt so heavy that it tears lives apart, then this movie could be for you. If you crave a good old-fashioned western, this movie will suffice. And if you want to see A-listers like Christian Bale (The Fighter, The Dark Knight Rises), Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl, A United Kingdom), Jesse Plemons (The Post, Other People), Timothee Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name, Lady Bird) and Ben Foster (Hell or High Water, Lone Survivor) continue to cement their names in Hollywood then you can’t go wrong with Hostiles, easily one of the five best movies of 2017. Though it’s unlikely to dethrone Wind River for me, it’s doing its best to make a case in the 11th hour.
We are presented with a sweeping epic of 1892 New Mexico and the lawlessness of the land. Cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi gets it right with his gorgeous, furbish look. By far, the most joyful part of the movie is the beautiful scenery of the mountains, valleys, brush, and trails. I’m not sure if any of this film’s characters smile in this movie. Captain Joseph J. Blocker (Bale) certainly doesn’t. We meet him for the first time at Fort Berringer, New Mexico, after capturing members of an escaped Apache family. Blocker is brought into the chambers of Colonel Abraham Biggs and told of his next assignment. President William Harrison has sent an order that a Cheyenne war chief named Yellow Hawk (Wes Studi – The New World, The Last of the Mohicans), who is dying from cancer, and his family be released and granted safe passage back to their ancestral lands, named Valley of the Bears, in Montana. Blocker refuses the order, recounting the numerous kills that Yellow Hawk had on innocent women and children that he witnessed. He is picked for the expedition because he speaks the native language better than any other man fit to lead. It only takes the threat of being court-martialed and his earned pension being taken away before the Captain realizes he has no choice. It is pointed out (more for the audience than Blocker himself) that he has done some equally horrific things to the natives over the years. Before he leaves the Colonel’s office, he is given papers signed by President Harrison to grant him safe passage through whichever lands they encounter.
The movie’s main criticism has been its story. I disagree. There are those out there who will think this is slow. I again can’t entirely agree. After the film’s first scene and Blocker’s assignment, I know we are in for an adventure that is unlikely to end well. Yellow Hawk’s family includes his wife, his son Black Hawk (Adam Beach – Flags of Our Fathers, Windtalkers), and his wife and son. This movie succeeds from the very get-go. Based on the film’s first scene, we know the unforgiving round they are about to embark on. We learn of Blocker’s intense hate for Indians, having been the target of their ruthless violence his entire career. He killed his share and captured many others. And the one he despises the most is Yellow Hawk. Bale is one of the very best actors of his generation, and I’m not sure if he’s ever been better here. Throughout the film, he keeps his emotions in check despite the unrelenting circumstances in this cruel world he constantly finds himself in. His eyes burn with intensity. The restraint he puts on himself, always wanting to seep out but never really doing so in a way that he loses control. A thick, gnarly mustache hiding his facial expressions the entire time. He’s a man who isn’t afraid to kill when he has to. He’s a soldier. But he proves he has a tender soul for those who deserve it.
Accompanying Blocker on his mission is a small group of soldiers that include Corporal Henry Woodson (Jonathan Majors), Lieutenant Rudy Kidder (Plemons), Master Sergeant Thomas Metz (Rory Cochrane – television’s CSI: Miami, Argo), and Private Philippe DeJardin (Chalamet). They are all men that Blocker trusts. From that point, we know these five will be united throughout their voyage, even if we have yet to determine what circumstances they are yet to encounter. But I mentioned in the first paragraph that Rosamund Pike is in this movie, too. Other than the wives of the Indians, she’s the only woman in this movie. Rosalie (Pike) hardly resembles the beautiful modelesque wife of Ben Affleck in Gone Girl. You’ll learn pretty early on how they meet, but this mentally, physically, and emotionally wounded woman is along for the ride as she has no other place to go. I also mentioned that Ben Foster was in this movie. I’ll leave how he enters the movie a mystery.
There were plenty of dangers along the way, mainly that of the Comanche Indians. The papers for a free pass through the lands don’t go very far with the Comanche nor seem to go as far with other groups. There are battles along the way, and they feel real. Neither is there a situation where Blocker and his group are completely outnumbered nor do they outnumber those they run into. They are fair fights, and both groups suffer casualties at each battle. One of the things that Cooper does great in this film is to let them become invested with each of the characters. I’ve said many times in my reviews that it’s easier for us to become involved with and care about the outcomes of a few characters. It’s also easy to have many characters that we don’t much care about when it comes to if they live or die. But you’ve done a great job as a director when you can have eight or more characters, and you care about each one.
Hostiles is a movie I will see again. I will purchase it on physical media. Bale, who is always excellent, has never been better. Of course, he’s had roles where he’s been equally good, but when this stoic man with so much anger and guilt on his shoulders battles the good man buried deep inside, it is presented as a gift for us to watch on screen. With the second-best performance of her career, Pike is equally effective, attempting to release the grief she carries but not feeling like she can ever do so. Plemons, who we often see play a guy we don’t know if we can trust, is excellent as a good-hearted, do-the-right-thing soldier. Chalamet, who seems to be in all of these 2017 hits, is completely different from the seducing teenager who thinks he’s ready to be an adult but deep down inside is still a struggling child in Call Me By Your Name or the conniving boyfriend of the title character in Lady Bird. He has had such an incredible 2017 that, if you didn’t know any better, you’d wonder if it was the same actor in each of these films. Studi is as steady and stoic here as he is in most of his roles. And when Foster comes on board, the film dials it up a notch (in a good way). He continues to impress with each role he takes on.
The film is incredible. I did not know much about it going in, but I’m glad I did not. Hostiles is one of the must-sees of 2017.
Plot 9.5/10
Character Development 9/10
Character Chemistry 8.5/10
Acting 9.5/10
Screenplay 10/10
Directing 9.5/10
Cinematography 10/10
Sound 9.5/10
Hook and Reel 10/10
Universal Relevance 9/10
95.5%
A
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