HOSTILES Review
When I was 15, it was beyond my grasp to think I would be able to see AVENGERS INFINITY WAR one week, DEADPOOL the next, and a spin-off STAR WARS film following that. The closest we came was probably 1982 where we were inundated with an unprecedented wave of sci-fi/fantasy/horror films. But now, every year is 1982 on steroids.
That’s not a bad thing (the15-year old in me is a pig in shit these days) but I really wish there were more of a spotlight and conversation on films like HOSTILES, a thoroughly compelling western directed by Scott Cooper (who helmed the equally compelling films CRAZY HEART and OUT OF THE FURNACE).
The plot is pretty standard: 1892, an almost retired Army captain (Christian Bale) has to escort a dying Cheyenne war chief (Wes Studi) from New Mexico to Montana. What’s not standard is the quality of acting, especially with Rosamund Pike who plays a frontierswoman raw with anguish verging on madness. Bale’s character is a close cousin to John Wayne’s character in THE SEARCHERS, holding a hatred toward First Nations that goes way deeper than racial divides. At the same time, Bale adds a subtlety and an inner wound to his character that Wayne’s overwhelming presence never allowed.
HOSTILES shows a harsh landscape of moral degradation and indignity; everything comes with a bitter cost — whether one takes the low-ground or high makes no difference. It also shows my personal feelings toward humanity: we have the capacity to elicit the worst sins possible, to tangle-up our souls with our own destructive demons. But if we can choose to be harsh one day, that means we can also choose to be better the next. We can grow, we can change.
Apparently, Bale had a disagreement with the director on how to end the film. One of them wanted it to end with a measure of hope, the other less so. I agree wholeheartedly with what we got.
