Alright, everyone, today, we review a film that depicts an aspect of the settling of the Old West, and was supposed to have two parts come out this summer, but with the second part being delayed, due to the first film flopping at the box office thus far. Oh well! Well, for now’s let’s discuss the first part that was for sure released, Horizon: An American Saga.
Plot: The film depicts the settlement of a frontier town in the San Pedro Valley by the name of Horizon. It follows three families, and their adventures that occurred following an Apache raid that was led by Apache leader Pionsenay, causing to scatter to different parts of the Old West.
Well, I will say this, Horizon: An American Saga Part 1 is definitely a very good film to watch for the historical aspect. I mean if you want to see a film that does well with depicting what life was like for those that grew up during the settlement of the American frontier, the hardships that occurred in the process, and more, those are aspects that will make you enjoy this film. This movie also has excellent acting. I mean for one, come on, who doesn’t enjoy Kevin Costner in just about everything he’s been in, be it Field Of Dreams, Dances With Wolves, For Love Of The Game, you name it? In addition to him, you also have Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Will Patton, and more. Each of their performances were really great. And the music by John Debney was great too. He truly did great with capturing life in the mid-19th century with the music that he composed. I will also say that it was interesting that he went from composing from a more family-oriented film like The Garfield Movie to a more adult film like this one in such a short amount of time. The movie also was not afraid to shy away from things like Americans being raided by some neighboring Native American tribes, the fact that prostitution occurred even during this time period, and so much more. So that begs the question, was Horizon: An American Saga too violent even for an R-rated film? Did this film also end up border lining on the side of being a little too sad, and depressing? Maybe! Maybe not! I mean chances are that’s how life was even back then. Plus, life is not always going to be a happy ending for any of us. That being said, should this film have aired more on the side of being a bittersweet kind of a film? Yeah, that is a question that is in fact that is up for debate for those of us that have seen Horizon: An American Saga.
Still, on the other hand, did this movie need to be around three hours? And another thing! Horizon: An American Saga may have had too many characters that it centered around. I mean that may have worked better with a fictional faith-based film like God’s Not Dead, since there was a better purpose, and went along well with the themes, and story overall of that film. Here, however, going that direction seemed to cause the movie to be more hard to follow. It also made it more hard to feel invested in the characters. Maybe it may have worked better if this ended up being a TV series, instead of a movie? I wish I could say for sure. Reasons such as these might partially, if not fully, factored into why this film didn’t perform too well in theaters. Could this film going up against a popular family film like Despicable Me 4 the same weekend also served as a cause for this film not performing all that well? Possibly! Still, putting even that aside, having a movie with too many characters, and likely having a more difficult time following the story of this film really seemed to take away from how much this film was, or could have been, enjoyable. Also, this film may have felt a little too sad, and depressing. Would that have been the case if this film had been released 40, 50, maybe 60 years ago? I wish I could say for sure. Well, in some ways, maybe it was gold that they showed the brutality of the violence that occurred during this time period, and how difficult life was for people living during this time period. On the other hand, however, is it possible that maybe the filmmakers went a little overboard with all that? I definitely would be curious to hear feedback on that, especially from those of you that have seen this film.
And that’s my review for Horizon: An American Saga. Though this was a good film for it’s historical aspects, the outstanding performances of all those who played their respective roles in this film, beautiful musical score, and things like that, I think I have found myself enjoying films like Sound Of Hope: The Story Of Possum Trot, Inside Out 2, and films like those a little more. All to say, people definitely will enjoy it for what good things that were in this film. Still, I personally might not revisit this film as often as other films that I have revisited in the past, or may revisit ion the future, regardless of the genre. I would say still see it, and go into with an open mind. Maybe some of you will enjoy it more than I did. And if you do, please let me know why, and do so with a civil discussion. So yeah, let me advise you to still see Horizon: An American Saga: Part One, and see what you think!
Final Grade: C
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