Horizon: An American Saga Parent Guide
Sometimes incoherent and far too long, this film nonetheless sets up what will hopefully be an expansive tale of the American West.
Parent Movie Review
A vast continent needs sprawling stories – at least, that’s what Kevin Costner provides in his self-funded epic, Horizon: An American Saga. Planned to extend to four feature films, this series is determined to tell an exhaustive tale of those who tamed the West, and those who suffered in the process.
As the first chapter in the series, this film has the challenging task of introducing characters and setting up story arcs. From the perspective of the audience, this means lots of cuts between locations and characters, often before we understand what’s happening or who these people are. It takes effort to follow the plotlines and since nothing wraps up at the end of the film, there’s no payoff. Only go to this movie if you’re willing to return to the theater in August for chapter two, or you are just setting yourself up for frustration.
To give director Kevin Costner his due, he does his best to introduce storylines that will keep the film moving. The principal focus is on the prospective settlement of Horizon, located in Arizona’s San Pedro Valley. The local Apache don’t appreciate having their hunting grounds disrupted, so they kill the first few settlers and then burn down the subsequent settlement – also killing and scalping as they go. This storyline involves a military camp (and a romance between an officer and widowed settler played by Sam Worthington and Sienna Miller), some vengeful settlers who decide to go “Indian hunting”, and a division within the Apache between a chief who wants to avoid the “white eyes” and his son (Owen Crow Shoe) who wants to drive all settlers from their lands.
Further north, Hayes Ellison (Kevin Costner) arrives in a Wyoming mining town only to find himself instantly caught within a bloody feud that has also ensnared a prostitute (Abbey Lee) and a toddler. After shooting a would-be child snatcher, Ellison goes on the run, with the woman and child in tow. But his instincts tell him that they are being hunted, and he knows they can’t let their guard down.
Finally, the movie focuses on a wagon train traveling through Kansas Territory. There are a mixed bag of personalities, including an experienced wagon train captain, a clueless English couple, a pair of troublemakers, and families who just want to survive the trip. And given the screenwriters’ willingness to kill off characters, there are no guarantees…
Given the disparate plotlines, it’s easy to see why the movie often feels unfocused. But I’m prepared to give Mr. Costner the benefit of the doubt and assume that the stories will intertwine in the next installment. I also hope the second chapter makes more space for the indigenous stories. In the first act of this film, the indigenous characters are violent aggressors, killing terrified, peaceable white people. Eventually the movie makes space for their backstories, perspectives, and losses – something I hope expands in the next film. (I was pleasantly surprised that the script nodded to historically accurate diversity and included both Black settlers and Chinese immigrant laborers in the film.)
More problematic for some viewers will be the movie’s level of violence, which earned it a Restricted rating. Profanity and alcohol come in at PG-13 levels, but the violence is pervasive. People are frequently shot with firearms (sometimes in cold blood), killed with arrows or knives, or scalped on screen. In one chilling scene, a parent explodes a gunpowder device, blowing up their entire family, rather than allow them to be killed or captured by the Apache. In addition, there is some sexual content and one female character’s back and breasts are visible when she gives herself a sponge bath.
If these flaws don’t deter you, and you have a passion for classic Westerns or history films (and we’ll see in which direction this series tilts in the next episode), you might enjoy Horizon: An American Saga. The cinematography is stunning and a few scenes had me gasping out loud at their sheer beauty. The cast do their best to inject the tale with desperation and hope, and I hope it pays off in Chapter Two. The series is an ambitious project by Kevin Costner and I think he falls short. But the American experiment is also vast and imperfect, so this might be a more fitting tale than it appears at first glance.
Directed by Kevin Costner. Starring Kevin Costner, Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington. Running time: 181 minutes. Theatrical release June 28, 2024. Updated June 27, 2024
Watch the trailer for Horizon: An American Saga
Horizon: An American Saga
Rating & Content Info
Why is Horizon: An American Saga rated R? Horizon: An American Saga is rated R by the MPAA for violence, some nudity and sexuality.
Violence: There are frequent, extended scenes of bloody violence. Settlers are killed and their bloody bodies, including that of a child, are seen covered in bugs. A woman shoots a man in cold blood and then flees. An indigenous man is clubbed to death by a group from another tribe. There are a few scenes of punching and hitting, in one of which a woman punches a man; in another, a woman is slapped by a man. A man is kicked in the chest. A teenager points a loaded gun at a youth but there are no injuries. Gunshots are frequently heard. Apache attack a settlement and set fire to tents. Throughout the film, people are shot with guns and killed with arrows: blood spatter is visible as are wounds. An adult uses gunpowder to cause an explosion that kills their entire family rather than allow themselves to be killed by the Apache. There are scenes of people being scalped by both white and indigenous assailants. A group of vengeful settlers decide to hunt the Apache who killed their families: there is discussion of bounties for “Indian scalps”.
Sexual Content: There are scenes of men and women kissing. An implied post-coital scene sees a man and woman getting dressed. A woman pressures an exhausted man to have sex: there is no nudity but the activity is obvious. A woman’s back and breasts are seen as she gives herself a sponge bath.
Profanity: The script contains at least 21 terms of deity, 17 minor profanities, a scatological curse, and two crude anatomical terms. The term “Indian” is sometimes used to describe indigenous peoples.
Alcohol / Drug Use: A woman smokes a cigarette. People drink alcohol in a number of situations. A doctor is said to be so drunk he’s unconscious: he’s later revived and told to see patients.
Page last updated June 27, 2024
Horizon: An American Saga Parents' Guide
Do you live in a place that also has or had indigenous inhabitants? What is the history of your region? Do different groups of people live harmoniously or in conflict? What do you think can be done so all groups can live peacefully in your area?
Loved this movie? Try these books…
In Westward Expansion: A History of the American Frontier, Ray Allen Billington and Martin Ridge use accounts from a wide variety of people to provide a broad perspective on the settlement of the West.
For a broadbased look at American expansionism, you can read Frederic L. Paxon’s Pulitzer-Prize winning opus History of the American Frontier 1763-1893.
If you want to learn more about how indigenous people pushed back against white settlement, you can read The Patriot Chiefs: A Chronicle of American Indian Resistance by Alvin M. Josephy Jr. For a book focused on the West, you can try Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz’s An Indigenous People’s History of the United States. Thomas King brilliantly brings indigenous issues to the present day in The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America.
Relevant to this film’s time period is The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West by Megan Kate Nelson. Also providing a historical backstory is Steven E. Woodworth’s Manifest Destinies: America’s Westward Expansion and the Road to the Civil War.
Home Video
Related home video titles:
Kevin Costner began his career with a Western, Silverado, in which he played an impulsive cowboy. He gained renown for his performance as a US soldier who wound up living with the Lakota people in Dances with Wolves.
A Civil War veteran faces an unexpected detour when he’s tasked with returning a girl who’s been held by an indigenous band to her extended family in News of the World. In Hostiles, a US Army captain is ordered to escort a Cheyenne chief and his family back to Montana so he can die on his lands – but there is peril along the way.