HOSTILES – Review

A timely account of the plight of Native Americans told through the eyes of a white guy who hates them, HOSTILES is a soft-headed frontier epic that never sparks to life. Despite a promising cast and concept, HOSTILES will have viewers begging to be taken to greener pastures long before its 134-minute duration concludes.

In 1840, Captain Joseph Blocker (Christian Bale) is given the order to escort Yellow Hawk (Wes Studi), a dying Cheyenne war chief, from New Mexico to Montana to be buried on sacred tribal lands. Still harboring a grudge against Yellow Hawk for leading past attacks in which his men were slaughtered, Blocker has spent his life fighting Indians and is renowned for having collected more than his share of scalps. Soon after Blocker and his select group of soldiers begin their journey with Yellow Hawk and his family, they come across a burned-down ranch where they discover Rosalie Quaid (Rosamund Pike) clutching a dead baby. She’s been in shock since her husband and two other daughters were massacred by a band of bloodthirsty Comanche. When they later cross paths with that same gang, Rosalie avenges herself by emptying a revolver into the body of a Comanche. As the group continues their trek, the whites and the Indians begin to bond. The Indian women give Rosalie some clothes to wear and Metz (Rory Cochrane), one of Blocker’s oldest friends, asks for forgiveness from Yellow Hawk for past atrocities he committed against his people. While stopped at a military post, Blocker and his party hear a commander’s wife (Robyn Malcolm) condemn the government and military officials for orchestrating the stealing of Native American lands. As the journey continues, Blocker finds himself gaining respect for Yellow Hawk and falling for Rosalie.

There is nothing overwhelmingly bad about HOSTILES (aside from Rosamund Pike’s performance), but there’s also nothing that inspires the viewer to sit up and take notice. Director Scott Cooper’s film is bogged down by a grim and solemn tone that makes its predictable story interminable. Here’s another blandly-written story of the white man learning wisdom and insight from those who look different. The film wants to present the Cheyenne in a good light, yet for all its sentiments to wax poetic about them tells us precious little about their culture and their way of life. Wes Studi as Yellow Hawk certainly exudes the proper noble presence but he and the other the Indians are props for a dry history lesson about white man problems. In fairness, HOSTILES doesn’t dwell on the themes of bigotry, genocide, and oppression as much as I expected (WIND RIVER, a contemporary story, actually handles some of these issues better). Coopers script pays lip service to these matters but his film concentrates more on artful images punctuated by pseudo-profound monologues more often than on action and the many emotional scenes seem more sappy than genuine.

HOSTILES squanders a good cast. This is the sour, humorless Christian Bale we get in movies like OUT OF THE FURNACE and he isn’t much fun to spend 134 minutes with. Worse is Rosamund Pike, way overplaying the grief. A scene where she’s wailing in agony while unsuccessfully clawing at the ground with her hands to bury her kids (until one of the soldiers hands her a shovel, which she can’t handle much better) is so embarrassingly over-the-top, she seems more deranged than anguished. Jesse Plemmons, Rory Cochrane, and Bill Camp are among the fine actors that are part of this journey. They’re all good but nobody stands out while Ben Foster employs his usual tics to play yet another twitchy villain. Even current hotshot Timothee Calamet makes little impression in a small role as a doomed youngster along for the ride (though I hear he’s good in CALL ME BY ME NAME!). HOSTILES is an underwhelming western that just leaves you wondering why it wasn’t better.

2 of 5 Stars