Hostiles *** ½ / *****
Directed by: Scott Cooper.
Written by: Scott Cooper based on a story by Donald E. Stewart.
Starring: Christian Bale (Captain Joseph J. Blocker), Rosamund Pike (Rosalie Quaid), Wes Studi (Yellow Hawk), Ben Foster (Sergeant Charles Wills), Stephen Lang (Colonel Abraham Biggs), Timothée Chalamet (Private Philippe DeJardin), Jesse Plemons (Lieutenant Rudy Kidder), Rory Cochrane (Master Sergeant Thomas Metz), Jonathan Majors (Corporal Henry Woodson), Adam Beach (Black Hawk), Q'orianka Kilcher (Elk Woman), Peter Mullan (Lieutenant Colonel Ross McCowan), Robyn Malcolm (Minnie McGowan), Paul Anderson (Corporal Tommy Thomas), Scott Wilson (Cyrus Lounde), Bill Camp (Jeremiah Wilks), John Benjamin Hickey (Captain Royce Tolan), Scott Shepherd (Wesley Quaid), Ryan Bingham (Sergeant Malloy).
Scott Cooper’s Hostiles is a Western that has so much going for it that ultimately it is able to make up for some of it’s rather glaring flaws. It isn’t a classically structured Western, but rather one that aims to depict the brutality of America at that time in all its harshness. This, it undeniably does, but the film also plods along at a rather slow pace, and at times it feels like little more than a parade of misery. And while it’s laudable that the really wants to give humanity to the Native Americans, it suffers because the Native characters are thinly written, especially when compared to the roles for the white actors in the film. The film is about the slow realization of the main character – Captain Joseph Blocker – that Natives are humans to, and deserve that humanity. If only the film had been able to do more with its Natives characters, it could have been great.
The film takes place in 1892, and opens with a massacre of a white family on their homestead at the hands of the Comanche – who want to steal their horses. To do this, they kill the husband, two daughters, and an infant son – leaving only the mother, Rosalie Quaid (Rosamund Pike) alive – and only because they cannot find her. The film than flashes to a group of Army men, taunting and tormenting their latest Native captive. These two scenes make it clear that there is no love lost between these two sides, and brutality is going both ways. Captain Blocker (Christian Bale) is then given his final assignment before retirement. He is to escort chief Yellow Hawk (Wes Studi), and his family – who have been prisoners for 7 years – back to his homeland in Montana, where he can die in peace. It has become clear at this point that the White Man has won the “war” against the natives, so a little harmless PR stunt like this won’t hurt anything. Blocker is deadest against it – so much so that he risks a court martial to try and fight it. Eventually, he gives in, because he has no choice. But he isn’t happy about it – and once out of the army base, he demeans the Chief and his son (Adam Beach) by putting them in chains. Eventually, they will come across Rosalie, still staying in her burnt out shell of a house, with the bodies of her family – clearly suffering from PTSD. They take her along with them, and she slowly comes out of her shock – but the danger of those Comanche is always there.
The first half of the film is really where it is at its best – the journey from the base, to the point where they have to deal with the Comanche that killed the Quaid family. From there – about the half way point, things become a little more scattershot, and less effective. The film introduces a killer (Ben Foster), who had previously served with Blocker, and who they are tasked with bringing back to another base to stand trial. Foster doesn’t understand why he is being tried for murder, when all the army does is murder people. There are also side trips to deal with brutal fur trappers, and a final showdown with some people who arrive out of nowhere.
To be fair to the movie, it handles these things fairly well. Bale is great in his role, and he is able to show his slow dawning change in him in how he views Yellow Hawk, and other natives – from the man practically shaking with racist rage in the opening scenes, to someone who really does fully respect them, and is willing to back that up. Rosamund Pike is also quite good (even if her “recovery” seems rather quick – especially after the incident with the fur traders). The film looks utterly gorgeous as well. While the film has a slow pace, perhaps too slow given its runtime, it does make the eruptions of violence hit harder.
Yet, I cannot help but think that much of the energy in the second half, devoted to these side trips, could have been better served rounding out the Native characters. Wes Studi is a great actor, and he has undeniable screen presence in Hostiles – but the film doesn’t really give him anything to do except have screen presence. Talented actors like Adam Beach and Q'orianka Kilcher – are given even less to do. If you’re going to make a film about the relationship between the White Man and Natives, it would help if both sides are given fully realized characters to play.
Still, while that’s an undeniably flaw, it doesn’t sink Hostiles – which really is a fine, modern day Western, which wants to help correct the mythmaking of old Hollywood films. The film was directed by Scott Cooper – who has made four solid films now (Crazy Heart, Out of the Furnace and Black Mass are the others), but hasn’t yet made a great one. He may well get there one day – but for now, it’s been interesting watching him try.
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