You have to hand it to Costner, literally putting his money where his mouth is – Horizon looks huge, epic in scope and scale, and clearly its creator believes strongly in the material. Frankly, it’s hard to disagree that – for all the success of Yellowstone and its many spin-offs – the Western really belongs on the big screen, where those astonishing landscapes and epic narratives can unfold without restrictions. This is Costner’s first feature as director since Open Range, with an epic cast that also includes Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Jena Malone, Owen Crow Show, Tatanka Means, Danny Huston, Michael Rooker, Will Patton, Luke Wilson, Isabelle Fuhrmann, Jamie Campbell Bower and Angus Macfadyen, to name but a fraction of the starring players.
Horizon is described as “a multi-faceted chronicle covering the Civil War expansion and settlement of the American West”, with “a story of America too big for one film” – and it’s hard to argue, given the evidence in the trailer. Here’s the official synopsis: “In the great tradition of Warner Bros. Pictures’ iconic Westerns, Horizon: An American Saga explores the lure of the Old West and how it was won — and lost — through the blood, sweat and tears of many. Spanning the four years of the Civil War, from 1861 to 1865, Costner’s ambitious cinematic adventure will take audiences on an emotional journey across a country at war with itself, experienced through the lens of families, friends and foes all attempting to discover what it truly means to be the United States of America.”
The trailer offers an unapologetically old-school look at a film that itself seems intentionally old-school – and if the Yellowstone crowd turns up in force, we might even see Costner pull off Chapter 3 and 4 after all. Bring on the big-screen release of Horizon this summer.