Kevin Costner’s Yellowstone sequel is a breathtaking ride through hope and violence

A wooden stake is driven into the ground and a thread extends from it, drawing a neat line across the grass and undergrowth. They are the dimensions for a house. Wood and thread, that was the dream of the settlers in 1861 on this river on the other side of the American border. Two years later, all that remains of her dream is dust. The poles stand over their graves.

This is how Kevin Costner opens up new western epic Horizon, which just celebrated its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. In it, Costner tells stories of violent land grabs on the one hand and defense by the indigenous population on the other. The patch of earth along the river is part of the panorama that will be featured in a total of four Horizon films.

Based on the first film, you wish him all the money in the world to realize this plan. Kevin Costner joins in Horizon a visually stunning ride through breathtaking landscapes there, strong in dialogue, uncompromising in its old-fashioned storytelling joy and a journey through time. Not just to 1861, but to the early 1990s. The Western era of Dances with Wolves, Merciless or Tombstone is resurrected.

Horizon in Cannes: The western epic has a huge ensemble

Costner and co-author Jon S. Baird cast their net of characters across multiple territories, cultures and years. While the civil war rages, expansion into the west of the North American continent continues. On the banks of the San Pedro Valley in what is now Arizona, a settlement is attacked by Apache warriors. It’s a horrifying sequence that dominates the first half hour of the film. Frances (Sienna Miller) survives and stands with her daughter (Georgia MacPhail) in front of the graves of her husband and son – and nothing.

Check out the trailer for Horizon:

Responsibility for the atrocities lies with Pionsenay (Owen Crow Shoe), who no longer wants to stand by. Responsibility for the atrocities lies with Pionsenay (Owen Crow Shoe), who no longer wants to stand by. how the newcomers harass his people.

A thousand kilometers away, Ellen (Jena Malone) is building a new life for herself in the Wyoming Territory. She has no idea that her husband’s family (including Jamie Campbell Bower) has tracked her down. There we also meet Hayes (Kevin Costner), who is surprisingly good with a rifle for an ordinary miner.

This is an excerpt of the characters and storylines, which are carefully laid out so that an overview is always provided. However, it would be pointless to explain the details at this point. Firstly, because you’re diving headfirst into this Impressive old school cinematic epic should fall and secondly because the story stages matter less than dwelling on conversations, moods and tensions.

The “Wild” West is presented in Horizon as a paradise of violence. These inner contradictions run through the film. On the one hand, there are the stunning natural panoramas of fairy-tale-like, colorful mountain ridges and autumnal seas of leaves. There has probably not been a major American production since James Cameron’s Avatar blockbusters that has placed so much emphasis on nature as an effect. And this one is not a computer-generated film. On the other hand, death lurks in Horizon, where even children are handling loaded guns or bows and arrows.

More from Cannes:

Horizon already feels like four westerns in one

From the outside, Horizon has the symptoms of a star vehicle staring us in the face, comparable to Kevin Costner’s previous directorial works Dances with Wolves and the post-apocalyptic Western Postman. Costner has been pursuing the idea for the film since 1988, he revealed to Deadline. Its renewed popularity since the hit series Yellowstone made it possible. He invested millions and took out a mortgage on his 4-acre estate in California. He risked being written out of Yellowstone for filming. Everything for Horizon. Costner is director, co-writer, producer, actor, financier, poster subject.

In the ensemble, he still cuts a fairly inconspicuous figure. As in Open Range, Costner plays a Western hero who tries to scrape the clotted blood from his hands in anonymity. He leaves the spotlight to his co-stars, such as Sienna Miller as the troubled settler widow, who finds new hope in the good-natured eyes of officer Sam Worthington. Or Abbey Lee as a resilient prostitute. The script is based on classic western characters, but even the smallest roles remain Space to fill the clichés with life. 181 minutes of running time actually pay off here.

That’s why Horizon already feels like three or four Westerns in one. So many perspectives are juxtaposed and examined that the three hours fly by.

Horizon 2 to 4 can’t come fast enough

The only, but major, downer remains the isolation of the indigenous cast, who in turn receive expressive moments, but not an equally captivating story. This could be corrected in the later films. But it could the concept of Horizon go back. The film is driven by the movement to the West. Costner, at least in Part 1, is most interested in the settlers, and the motives and (blind) hopes that drive these people to the West.

This movement across the continent will bring some of the characters together in the next three films. How this will happen remains unclear after the end of the first film the second can’t come to the cinema fast enough.

The result of the great story told in Horizon can be seen in its analytical, cold form on the map of the United States. In the US states, whose borders were drawn – as straight as a wooden pole – over the land and graves of entire peoples.

Horizon launches on August 22, 2024 in German cinemas. Part 2 follows on November 7th.