Horizon 2 opens with a voice from beyond the grave. A boy tells of how his father and uncle bought a piece of land in the western United States in 1859. His curious face looks out of the stagecoach window, heading for an adventure. But death awaits him at his destination. The boy will own one of the graves that towers over the idyllic valley that attracts so many people from all corners of the country in the first of the planned four-part western series by and with Yellowstone star Kevin Costner.
In the first Horizon film, the wooden crosses marked the starting point of a breathtaking ride through the Wild West, the likes of which are rarely filmed anymore: with a gigantic ensemble of characters, a story spanning decades and a classic Western feel. The sequel, which celebrates its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, retains these basic elements. Horizon 2 is still an epic western adventurebut the film differs from its predecessor in several ways and that has advantages and disadvantages.
Kevin Costner gallops through an even longer story in Horizon 2
Horizon 2 is another nine minutes longer than the first film and comes in at impressive running time of 190 minutes. There is a lot to tell. The groundwork was laid in Part 1. During the American Civil War, settler treks make their way to a place called Horizon, which is sold by speculators as a paradise. In reality, however, it is an important river crossing that the indigenous tribes of the area depend on. Retaliation follows.
Frances (Sienna Miller) is one of the settlers who loses her husband and son in an attack by young Apaches. In Part 2, she is ready to return to the place of her greatest loss. Her new-found love (Sam Worthington), meanwhile, disappears from the film to serve in the Civil War. While Frances rebuilds her life from the ruins, her brother-in-law (Will Patton) travels across the prairie with his three daughters and a trek of settlers. However, leader Matthew (Luke Wilson) soon realizes that the trek has lost its way.
Meanwhile, the Sykes family continues to hunt for Marigold (Abbey Lee) and Hayes (Kevin Costner), whose paths separated at the end of Part 1. Hayes experiences his very own Yellowstone as a foreman at a horse loading station run by an overbearing boss à la John Dutton. Marigold, meanwhile, spends much of the film hiding in a crawlspace under a hotel, which unfortunately completely wastes the most entertaining character of the first film.
Women rule in the second part of the Western epic
Horizon may be an ego project, but you have to give it to Kevin Costner: He hasn’t exactly written a shining hero for himself. Hayes is neither particularly eloquent nor charming. In the first film, he snores his way through a sex scene that would make John Wayne turn in his grave. If someone calls him a dumb-bass It’s hard to disagree with the way he complains. He can handle a Colt, however, as Hayes proves in a sleek duel in Horizon 2. The rest of the film is told in a much less spectacular way – even compared to the first part of the Western series.
Horizon offered some outstanding sequences about the violence in the borderland, most notably the robbery at the beginning, but also the long dialogue ballet between Costner and Jamie Campbell Bower, which culminates in a shootout. Horizon 2 lacks intense climaxes. Instead, the focus is almost entirely on a chunk of story that must be completed to get people from point A to point B.
The narrative pace is accelerated in order to jump back and forth between the many different locations and this benefits some characters. Cliché types from the first film develop into stately charactersThis is especially true of the many female characters in the film, who have to get by without guns but with their wits. Horizon 2 is ruled by the women and girls who find themselves among burnt-out houses because of their husbands’ and fathers’ dream castles.
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Horizon 2 is a transitional film
The film also explores in a multi-layered way how the different communities in a lawless frontier create justice – or not. This happens most painfully in the bitter story of Juliette (Ella Hunt), who, as a member of the settler trek, becomes the victim of severe abuse while her neighbors watch idly. Horizon is often described as a classic western that revives the idealism of the genre, but Costner and co-writer Jon Baird are more interested in the dark side.
In the end However, it is a transitional filmwhich slogs narratively to set up the climaxes to come. That’s something you can afford in a four-part saga (assuming it’s completed). After the thrilling adventure of the first film, Horizon 2 is still a little frustrating.
Horizon 2 was shown to the public for the first time at the Venice Film Festival. German audiences will be able to see the western in cinemas from November 7th.