Hostiles - Movie Review

It seems a bit strange to me that Hostiles has not had a trailer in the theaters, given the viral advertising campaign on television. I have seen this trailer several times per day for the past few weeks. With glowing recommendations like "stunning" (and an engaging trailer), I had high expectations. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed, although I liked the film enough to recommend it. I was expecting Hostiles to be a generational movie. The Western for the Millennial generation.

Captain Joseph Blocker (Christian Bale) doesn't care much for savages. Rumor has it that he has taken more scalps than Sitting Bull. The gristled veteran has lost many men battling natives. He has fought many of those battles with Master Sergeant Metz (Rory Cochran) fighting at his side. The decades of war and killing have left Metz hollowed. He is a hardened shell with an empty soul. When Captain Blocker is tasked with escorting a dying Cheyenne Chief (Wes Studi) back to Montana, he agrees only under the threat of court martial. Blocker is assisted by a green West Point Lieutenant (Jesse Plemmons), a veteran Corporal (Jonathan Majors) and a French Private (Timothee Chalamet).

As the details moves out, they come across a homestead that has been torched by Comanches. Captain Blocker discovers a woman (Rosalie Quaid played by Rosamund Pike) inside the burned out house holding a dead baby. Her children, also dead, are laying in the bed. She cautions Captain Blocker to be silent so he doesn't wake the children. After a bit of coaxing, Rosalie is escorted from the house and the children, eventually, are laid to rest. Rosalie rides with the soldiers as they head to the next town. The journey is arduous, with threats coming from many directions. The journey is one of redemption.

Scott Cooper has directed some excellent films. Cooper adapted the screenplay for Hostiles, creating many of the characters written to specific actors. I'm not sure how I feel about that approach. Were it more successful, I might call it brilliant. But the characters were just "okay." They weren't compelling. The character development relies heavily upon viewers ability to accept dramatic changes with little influence and within a short period of time. While the pacing was sluggish, the changes in the characters felt rushed. It was an awkward off-balanced pace propelling this film towards its bloody conclusion.

The casting was solid. While I found it hard to accept the dramatic character changes, the performances helped this film tremendously. I didn't care much for Bale when he mumbled, that was a bit irritating, but he seemed to get past that further in the film. With veterans like Bale and Pike anchoring the cast, the film had a stable foundation. None of the performances stood out as Oscar worthy. Rather, it was a combination of solid veterans that gave the film stability.

Hostiles follows a trend that seems to be ubiquitous right now. The film exceeds two hours (by fourteen minutes). Film generally shoot for the sweet spot between an hour and forty-five minutes and two hours. But there have been a string of films in recent months that run past two hours. That can be a dangerous trend for films that have sluggish pacing, like Hostiles. The ending lingered way too long, in spite of being predictable. It tried to hard. This film, like most war-oriented movies, is rated R. The rating is based on graphic violence and language. There was also discussion of rape that was not depicted on screen. Primarily, the rating is tied to violence. I would recommend a teenage audience or older.

Hostiles has done a good job of finding favorable reviews and marketing based on adjectives like "outstanding" and "stunning." The film is moderately good. It is worth seeing at a matinee, but not much more. It is a solid story, but the characters are rushed and the pacing is slow. The film feels a bit self-righteous at times, too. The characters are decent, mostly because of the performances, but the epiphanies and change defy logic. I enjoyed the film, but felt a bit bored at times. Cutting twenty minutes from this film may have helped it. 7.5/10.