Hostiles - Review

Hostiles

Academy Award winner Christian Bale hooks up with Director Scott Cooper again (Out of the Furnace) to tell a Western tale in the film “Hostiles”.

Set in 1892 New Mexico and Montana, Hostiles tells the story of a legendary Army Captain named Joseph J. Blocker (Christian Bale), a soldier’s soldier, firmly committed to doing his duty at all cost, of which largely involved ridding the American SW region of “savages” who frequently marauded White settlers home and ranches.

One day upon the return to his fort with a captive Native American in tow, Captain Blocker is summed to his Colonel’s Office to discuss his new orders. He quickly realizes that for once in his life he cannot comply with a direct order as it involves taking a sworn enemy of his named Chief Yellow Hawk (West Studi) after 7 years in the fort’s prison, back to his home land of Montana…………He’s dying and wishes to die and be cremated there in the way of his ancestors.

Captain Blocker firmly resists in taking the Chief back, mostly because he hates him with every fiber of his being for killing his best friend when they captured him seven years ago. But even after stern resistance, he reluctantly agrees to escort the dying Cheyenne war chief and his captive family back to tribal lands.

Realizing this is his list official duty before retiring Captain Blocker honorably takes out on his perilous journey from Fort Berringer, NM to the grasslands of Montana. Still he is filled with raw bitterness and seeks comfort on his journey from his devout belief in God and the words in his bible in the hope it helps him get past some of his hatred towards the Chief as he escorts him to his final resting place. Little does he know his last mission will take both himself and the Chief down a path of personal redemption for the pain they both have inflicted on each other.

REVIEW: Running 2:15 minutes, “Hostiles” is eerily similar in construct to Leonardo DiCaprio’s ‘The Revenant”, with its obvious story line of solemnest, melancholy, isolation and brutality but also in its powerful soul searching undertones on issues of morality, redemption, mourning and death. And it’s with these combined qualities that ‘Hostiles” as a western feels abundantly fresh, vibrant and in the moment authentic, all the while filled with deadly intensity and consequences lurking around each frame of the film itself.

Actors Bale and Rosemund Pike give genuinely splendid performances, both nuance and dramatic, of two well intended good people who are now both broken souls by the impact of death. Broken either by the suddenness of death in their lives or as a result of a life time killing people because that was “their job”. Director Cooper makes sure this theme runs throughout the entire film without it ever being boring or ever cheapen it with jocular moments that would come across as inappropriate or silly. Cooper keeps the film seriously focused on the burdensome toll killing people has on a person’s conscious as well as the death of someone who is dear to them has on the human soul unlike any earthly experience.    

   

I highly recommend seeing this film in a theater now, not only for its portrayal of the Western genre world with a persistent powerful story about mourning and sorrow, but for its splendid telling of that story through the prism of tears, blood and beauty. Yes beauty as “Hostiles” is also stunningly and exquisitely filmed by cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi. This film is so gorgeous filmed each and every frame, that if the tourism and or home sales go up in either New Mexico and Montana over the next 12 months, they will owe it to this film. I sincerely hope the Academy will remember “Hostiles” next year in 2019 when they hand out Oscar nominations for Best Cinematography. Trust me this is one of the most beautiful looking films I have ever seen.

For so early in the 2018 year “Hostiles” is a very rare and superb film of the likes you don’t normally see until after Labor Day. So, if you like Westerns as I do, I implore you if you have the time, please see it on the big screen now as an assemble of both great acting and storytelling in the latest Christian Bale’s effort, who once again showcases himself as one of the best actor’s working year after year.

3.75 Stars