A Reel Review: HOSTILES

The Old West can be a tricky genre to bring to the screen these days. It’s the one genre that can fill us with a great sense of nostalgia; images of cowboys and Indians, outlaws and lawman, gun-slinging and horseback riding into the sunset. It’s all familiar territory that movie fans love, but perhaps a little too familiar; after 100 years of Old West films, it’s a challenge to make the old seem new again. Such is the task for writer and director Scott Cooper and HOSTILES.

In 1892, Army Captain Joseph Blocker (Christian Bale) reluctantly accepts the task of escorting a Cheyenne war chief (Wes Studi) back to his tribal land; from New Mexico to Montana. Along the long journey, Blocker and his men come across a widow (Rosamund Pike) whose family was killed by hostile Comanches.

The structure of HOSTILES is an episodic, road-trip movie…with the travelers going from one area to another avoiding hazards such as Comanche attacks, outlaw fur-trappers, overzealous land-owners, and bad weather. The journey gets off on the wrong foot right away, as Blocker, weary and broken from way too many years of war and killing Indians, would rather be doing anything than escorting a war chief, who is himself guilty of many atrocities, back to his native land and freedom. Things are compounded when the widow, Rosalie, comes into the picture and is forced to travel with Indians when she just saw her family slaughtered by natives.

Putting characters into tough positions and seeing how they survive is the name of the game here, and it works well. Blocker, and his long-time comrade Tommy (Rory Cochrane), are both broken men who feel they lost their souls over their years of killing natives, and having them on a mission which is basically a humanitarian task is an opportunity for redemption for the both of them. By the time the destination is reached and the bullets and blood are done, both redemption and tragedy are found in shocking ways.

Director Scott Cooper is no hurry to get his characters anywhere, and certainly drives home the point that it took a long time to go places on horseback. The journey is slow and treacherous, and it shows. The landscapes are filmed beautifully, and Cooper can’t help but to film more than one important scene with the only light coming from a campfire. The gun-fights are outstanding and offer more than one seat-jumper. Max Richter’s score is outstanding, and Ryan Bingham contributes some period-piece friendly original songs.

Christian Bale is outstanding and once again proves his great range. He is battle-fatigued to the point where there is barely anything behind his voice, and the struggle the character has to do his duty can be felt at all times. Rosamund Pike is equally great, and the moment when she has to bury her own family is a heartbreaker. Rory Cochrane nearly steals the show as Blocker’s right-hand man and old friend. The rest of the cast, including Stephen Lang, Wes Studi, Jonathan Majors, Jesse Plemons, and Timothee Chalamet are all excellent. Ben Foster shows up in a little twist of an extended cameo. If there’s any flaw, it’s that the commitment to the style of speaking is so good that it’s occasionally difficult to understand bits of dialogue.

HOSTILES is officially a 2017 film, but it’s dumb release-strategy doesn’t have most of the world seeing it until late January…which basically sabotaged any hopes it had during Awards Season. As shame, as it would certainly have been a contender. Scott Cooper has delivered a Western that is simple in structure, but rich in character…giving the Old West something new to hang its hat on.  

BOTTOM LINE: See it