Hostiles

I had read quite a bit about this movie leading up to seeing it this weekend but, curiously, had nod seen a single ad. All I really knew was the Christian Bale's performance was getting raves (big surprise), the basic plot synopsis, and that I had enjoyed Scott Cooper's previous films. I had a bit of a bad feeling going in that it might be slow, preachy, and obvious but considering one review came right out and said this was the best American Western of the last twenty years, I was cautiously hopeful. I should have listened to my instincts. Hostiles isn't as unbearably overlong and self-important as The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, but it's close. In fact, it might not even be quite as good as that movie. At least I was fully engaged with all the characters in that film. In Hostiles, it really is just Bale and the people standing around him. The movie is way too long, very slow in the middle, and just not very engaging. I can't say I hated it because the acting is great all around, except for a badly out of her element Rosamond Pike. Rory Cochrane, Scott Wilson, Jesse Plemmons, Wes Studi, Adam Beach, Stephen Lang, Ben Foster, etc. all turn in great work even if their characters aren't that strong. And then there's Bale. Hostiles works best when thought of as really great showcase for the brilliance of Christian Bale, how natural, how carefully constructed, how emotionally raw, and at times remarkably subtle a performer he can be. I truly believe in the future his name will be mentioned in the same breath as Marlon Brando and Robert de Niro. But he really needs to find himself better material. Like Exodus, the last thing I remember seeing him in, Hostiles shows him doing great work in a barely okay movie. The problems I have with this movie are that the lead actress is stiff and awkward, playing a complex character whose arc does not even remotely land. The supporting characters are mostly disposable with only Cochrane, Studi, Foster, and a guy named Jonathan Majors who plays the sole black member of Bale's battalion really making any impact. The pacing is all off. The movie grabs you by the throat in the first thirty minutes then just kind of tapers off until the finale. And even then, the plot isn't nearly as smart or impactful as it thinks it is. Most of the time, you'll know exactly where a scene is going from the moment it starts. Honestly, I knew exactly where the movie was going after reading its plot synopsis on IMDB. Christian Bale plays a soldier ordered to transport some captive natives across Western country which he reluctantly agrees to do because he has been at war with natives in general and the chief, played by Wes Studi, specifically. And he picks up Pike's pretty widow along the way. If you watch movies, you can guess every beat pretty much from there. Brotherhood of man, whites are just savage as the native "savages," romance blooms in unlikely places, etc. Oh, we're all awful for taking native land. The movie is just too proud of itself, too filled with Indie movie "big important movie" pretension to be as obvious as it is. I wanted it to surprise me, to deviate a little, to do just one thing I really didn't expect but it just doesn't. At least not until the last ten minutes of the movie when Scott Wilson rides in for his bit part. I can't say I didn't like the movie at all. I did actually really like the first third, Christian Bale is amazing, and there are great moments sprinkled throughout. I just wish Bale could get more work in better films. PS Hey Hollywood. how about letting Bale and Tom hardy face off again, but without the masks this time. It would be a treat for film fans and almost certainly better than the last few Bale films released.

This movie won't be for everyone. It's dark, fairly "slow" paced, and at times brutal. But at it's core, this movie is about forgiveness -- and for me, it rang true and was emotionally impactful. Christian Bale is in top form here, and his performance as well as the rest of the cast is great. It's beautifully shot and the score is haunting and harrowing. Well directed and worth watching -- just don't expect this to be a fast paced thrilling Western. It's not heavy on plot -- it's more thematic.

Referencing DH Lawrence at the outset Hostiles continues the Hollywood trend (Suburbicon, The Shape of Water) to blame the caucasian male for everything that seems to be terrible in American history, real or otherwise. There's an opening slaughter of homesteaders by a marauding band of Commanches but by the last reel it is overwhelmingly clear who the monsters are after two interchangeable groups of surly Euros along with a guilt ridden trooper apologizing for the white man's misdeeds blot the screen with their miscreant ways. In its attempt to be "even handed" it takes a side. Veteran Indian fighter Captain Blocker (Christian Bale) is assigned to take ailing Chief Yellow Hawk back to his homeland in Montana. The stoic Blocker, an heroic racist balks at first but is given little option. Once along the uneasy trail conflict and camaraderie mingle. Stuck in a funk from start to finish Hostiles is more saunter than gallop as our morose and taciturn band of uneasy riders make their way across the breathtakingly stunning landscape of North American wilderness. Spending more time burying people than communicating director Scott Cooper keeps the meter running as he wastes time with endless close-ups and pregnant pauses that more or less examine the same issue repetively. Without an ounce of comic relief Hostiles simply strings along one tragedy after the next as writer director Cooper sluggishly attempts to nuance his irony of civilized savage versus noble Native American. Note: An ideal antidote for this mawkish work is Ulzana's Raid (1972) directed by Richard Fleischer and featuring Burt Lancaster. Dealing with a similar issue it is far more honest and coldly objective. Plus Burt does not have much time to reflect or shed a tear like Bale does a couple of time in Hostiles; he's too busy trying to keep his hair.

Excellent acting (of course by Bale and Pike and their chemistry; but also by the entire crew), beautiful variety of scenery and smart music score. After reading other reviews, i thought it would not meet expectations; however, Hostiles did not disappoint. It was a well paced journey (left my wife and i wanting more), with authentic fight scenes and sounds; as well as interesting relationships and lessons in duty, sacrifice and care. Suspenseful, adventurous, romantic, emotional and dramatic; better than nearly all of the old 1940s and 1950s westerns; and more classy than the most of the post-Wayne, Stewart, and Scott ones. Unlike many that story line is primarily about revenge or some criminal motive; Hostiles is about a mission and survival.

The script writer is from the U.S. east coast (Virginia), and the script appears to be telling in that regard. Reviews at Indian Country Today are pleased at how the Cheyenne captives being returned to their homeland are portrayed. I concede that, but otherwise the movie plot is historically and geographically preposterous from the get-go. The writer apparently has never studied Wikipedia, much less read Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown or An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz. The premise of massacre of white settlers (1) by Comanches, (2) in 1892, (3) in either eastern New Mexico or a well-watered part of other New Mexico, fails. The Comanches were subdued in northwest Texas and adjacent eastern New Mexico by the late 1870s, and thereupon fled to Mexico. Moreover, preceding atrocities alluded to and productive of Captain Blocker's initial Indian hatred were mostly the other way around, which is to say a preponderance of white atrocities (Brown, Dunbar-Ortiz, Wikipedia). I didn't catch the dialogue exactly, but at one point in the movie I thought the name Billy Dixon came up as a Captain Blocker friend the Indians supposedly had killed in savage fashion. If I have that wrong, then I have that wrong. But if I have it right, the fact is that Dixon was one of the hunters who nearly exterminated the bison, who mainly fought Indians who were trying to stop such extermination, and who died ultimately in his 70s of old-age pneumonia. Then, without going through or across the Rockies from New Mexico to Montana, which thus requires traveling through eastern New Mexico, eastern Colorado, and eastern Wyoming, the cavalry and the Cheyenne they're escorting traverse a mixture of semi-arid lands with topography, or apparent Rockies foothills with trees. They somehow don't cross many major roads or trails, somehow don't encounter many other people or signs of white civilization, and somehow miss or mostly miss Colorado Springs (where "America the Beautiful" was composed in 1893), Denver, Cheyenne, and Laramie. At best, this puts them farther east on a route through the mostly treeless and mostly flat far western Great Plains, except that's not scenery that's in their journey or the movie. Parts of the movie that weren't filmed in the New Mexico or Colorado Rockies, or vicinity, were filmed in Arizona which is not on the way to Montana.

Hostiles is a period piece that stars Christian Bale, Rosamund Pike and many others. It centers around an Army captain who hates Native Americans that is asked to escort a Cheyenne chief and his family to the reservation in Montana that they were previously from. The film starts off with a deeply disturbing scene where a family, including children, is massacred by Indians, which sets the tone for a very emotional, disturbing, and even sometimes uplifting journey that questions who the real hostiles are. The real highlight here is, of course, Christian Bale, who can convey a world of emotion with just one expression. Bale is easily Oscar- worthy and should definitely get at least a nomination. Whenever Bale controls the scene it is riveting. Rosamund Pike also nails it as the lone survivor of the attack described earlier. She exhibits grief better than even the most experienced of actors. Hostiles has a great message that is especially relevant in today's dividing times. The film is about inclusion, and shows that we are all human no matter how evil one may seem. However, this movie is not without its flaws. It's very slow at times, and there are entire scenes that feel like they don't need to be in the film. Luckily, whenever the film starts to slow down, within the next scene or so something happens that makes it more interesting. Hostiles is a heavily emotional experience that will make you think about long after it is done. Despite the heavy subject matter, it has an uplifting message, and pull some great performances from the main actors. I give Hostiles an A-.

Post civil war frontier America and Christian Bale aka Captain Joseph Blockeris is ordered by the Army to escort a Cheyenne Chief, who has been granted safe passage back to his homeland in Montana, by the President of the United States, due to his terminal illness. Along the way the party encounter wild and dangerous Comanche "Indians". The movie is intense and I surmise Bale will be nominated for an Academy Award for this turn. Wes Studi, as always, as the ailing Chief, is marvelous, understated and ever so powerful. Rosamund Pike is superb as a deranged widow who is collected up by Bale's party. Her presence in the story seems like a distraction from the original mission or orders, but it's a movie and we have to have some man/woman tension and whatever then derives from that, of course. The movie sometimes slows down a bit, and lingers, but it always recovers, and overall - see this movie. And the music score is perfect.

Christian Bale's character is the Army captain who hates Native Americans. He's the one who is put in charge of escorting a Cheyenne chief, played by West Study to their reservation in Montana. Well I bet you already know how is going to end, don't you? Beautiful landscapes when we can see them. The night scenes are irritatingly dark and they are many. The plight of Rosamund Pike's character - who loses her entire family in a harrowing opening scene - kept me going. She is strong and powerful but Christian Bale gives a performance that is just that, a performance. I like him as an actor when he's good. Brilliant in The Fighter, terrific in American Psycho but embarrassing in Exodus: Gods And King as Moses. Here I needed to believe in those flashes of empathy he seems to insinuate but I didn't. I was too aware of him, the actor. I don't know if I can I explain it but if you look at him walk away at the end of the movie, you'll know exactly what I mean. As far as I'm concerned not an ounce of real emotion. Naturally, I would recommend for you to check it out yourself, I'm often quite alone in my opinions.

Forget the talk of the film being slow, this isn't an action film or an old school shoot 'em up western, anyone looking for that should search elsewhere. Whilst there some great action scenes, where hostiles excels is in setting the tone for an early American world where law and order rest of gun power. The cinematography is exceptional, meanwhile Christian Bale is superb playing a army captain who is seemingly tough and unflinching but shows an undertone of melancholy, Rosamunde Pike pulls of a great performance as a woman thrust into the ugly world of war and anarchy by a brutal attack on her family home, a scene is exceptional and unapologetically shocking. Overall the film is about the futility of trying to civilise a wild land built on violence, and about the tragedy and the sheer pointlessness of conflict against fellow man.

Scott Cooper's 'Hostiles' is a poetic film, that explores life & death with gut-wrenching violence & a hard-hitting narrative. This isn't an easy watch & nor does it want to be. Its a film about hate, divide & circumstances, & Cooper along-with leading-man Christian Bale, deliver a deeply affecting & meditative experience. 'Hostiles' follows a U.S. Cavalry officer (Bale) who must escort a Cheyenne war chief (A Fantastic Wes Studi) and his family back to their home in Montana in 1892. 'Hostiles' is about people haunted by their past & their actions towards one-another. Every character here, be it the protagonist, or the characters around him, are unsettled & victims of hate & hatred. This is a story about people who want to question their hate for one-another, but are unable to, due to their given circumstances. This is a human story & the sheer brutality here depicts a side of humanity we all are aware off. Its told with honesty, albeit, with gut-wrenching aggression. Scott Cooper is in top-form this time around. 'Hostiles' is a slow-moving, poetic piece, that sees the filmmaker in strong command. Cooper captures the bleakness & conflict, with remarkable understanding. Cooper's Vision is astonishingly captured by Cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi, who paints 'Hostiles' into a visual marvel. Takayanagi's Camerawork is meditative & skillful to the point of perfection. Editing by Tom Cross adapts perfectly to the film's pace & offers sharpness overall. Art & Costume Design are pitch-perfect. Max Richter's Score is beautiful. Performance-Wise: Christian Bale delivers a knockout performance. As the conflicted & haunted Cavalry officer, Bale portrays the part with rare conviction. Its no new fact that Bale is among our greats, but 'Hostiles' shows us a side of his that may have just put him up there, right next to the all-time screen giants. What a wonderfully nuanced performance by Bale. Of the rest of the cast, Wes Studi portrays his complex part fantastically. Rosamund Pike is restrained. She's controlled & believable all through. Jesse Plemons is solid, as always. Ben Foster plays a yet another unlikable character, with the perfect blend of menace & insanity. Rory Cochrane is first-rate. Timothée Chalamet makes a very brief appearance, yet he does his bit nicely. Stephen Lang, again in a cameo, is outstanding! Others lend good support. On the whole, 'Hostiles' demands a viewing on the strength of its sheer merits. Don't Miss This One!