Hostiles

Nontraditional western with almost philosophical contemplations about death. Mainly about the death of loved ones. In his role of a mumbling captain, Bale caught the right wave again, his torn soul shining in his eyes. In her supporting role, Rosamund Pike skillfully steals the strongest scenes for herself e.g. with the sleeping children and shooting the corpse. A story wrapped inside an almost ironical pilgrimage towards death also boasts amazing visuals. There could be more of Foster, he makes just a fleeting appearance. I was just doing my job. (20.07.2018)

Given how thoroughly this film analyzes the feelings of all of its characters, it quite underestimated the importance of the portrayal of Bale’s character and the chief becoming friends, which is a key element in the story exposition. That may be due to the final cut, which was supposed to make the film more accessible to a broader audience by shortening its runtime. I would stretch the first third into the first half and extend the runtime to 150 minutes. Hostiles is so captivating, emotional, and psychologically and intellectually engaging that it could have become the (anti-)western of the decade, depicting the fucked-up period of American history in question most aptly among all of its genre cousins. Each minute is an intense testament of loss, torment and sadness. (08.08.2018)

The premise gave me a feeling that this would be one of the best Hollywood experiences. And it really was. It has exactly everything is should and nothing more, nothing less. Christian Bale and Wes Studi greatly portray the best warriors of their respective sides and as destiny has planned, at the end of their lives they meet again just so one of them can carry the other home. And it is done on the President’s order. Brutal bloody scenes, unbelievably strong emotions, characters you pity, the darkness in their minds you can’t understand and the scenes you won’t forget. Undoubtedly a great experience and the last scene is probably the most beautiful and poetic movie ending I have seen in years. (07.10.2020)

The first cinema experience of the year. Scott Cooper serves up a gritty adventure western with the Apache! Starring a solid Christian Bale, Rosamund Pike and Ben Foster. The film has a slower pace, but a very tense atmosphere, beautiful scenery, lots of disgusting maniacal Apaches who have no problem murdering an entire family and their children (the opening scene is very intense) and a great soundtrack. There are only four action scenes, but they are authentically filmed, with excellent sound design and very tense to the point of being breathless. This dead genre has been slowly reviving and gaining momentum for the last two years and that's only a good thing. 75% (16.01.2018)

A wonderful story by the sensitive Scott Cooper. Minimalistically served, modestly presented but profound in its message. The moments of silence, thoughtfully spoken dialogue and knowing glances were more engaging for me than the scenes of horror and violence, which also have their place. I can see why this flopped in theaters, in this day and age of superhero Marvel and DC dreck, this old-school style of narrative is out of place with 99% of today's film output. And I understand why Christian Bale wants to make films like this, and I thank him for that and wish him well in his future film career. (11.06.2018)