Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 review: Costner’s Western is an epic bore Score Details “Costner has abandoned his small-screen success for a triumphant return to the big screen, only to make a movie that’s basically television.” Pros Some good performances Costner's star power We deserve more Westerns Cons It's ungodly long It's half a story at best It's plotted like a bad TV pilot It’s tempting to celebrate Horizon: An American Saga on grounds of gumption alone. Having successfully revived his career with Yellowstone , Kevin Costner has taken leave of that television sensation, riding off into the sunset in pursuit of a grander ambition: to write, direct, and star in an old-fashioned Western opus, a frontier story spanning years, long stretches of country, and multiple installments.
Is there a better use of career capital than the realization of a passion project? After decades of carrying the torch for this unfashionable genre, Costner has earned the indulgence of a supersized tribute to its values. But somewhere in the middle of Horizon ’s interminable first chapter (its second arrives in August, with two more in some stage of development), an irony begins to settle over this three-hour tangle of horse-opera archetypes and loosely connected subplots. The other oaters Costner has directed — his Oscar-winning Dances with Wolves and the later Open Range — were sweeping, stately dramas that recalled, with a minimum of throwback fuss, an older era of Ho.
