Horizon: An American Saga -- Chapter One

It was baked into the cake that any review of this movie would be incomplete. I can only give an impression of what I saw, what I hope to see, what I expect to see, and a recommendation to either see it or stay home.

I hope that it's well known enough that this is intended to be four movies, with the first two being released this summer. So, this movie is the exposition.

It's a three hour long exposition. So, the question is whether or not the exposition is worth the ticket price and enough to make one want to buy a ticket for the next three hour installment. Will they be there for the presumed twelve hours of cinema that Costner insists are going to hit the silver screen?

For me, without a doubt my butt is gonna be in a seat until this story comes to a close.

This is only Kevin Costner's fourth effort as a director. We all know Dances With Wolves. The Postman was underrated; but, not his best work. Open Range remains one of my favorite films since the turn of the century.

Costner knows the Western genre as well as anyone. He knows how to make a movie like this. It shows that he knows how to make a movie like this.

The interesting thing is that I can't point to a movie like this. It's too bold to be compared to any of the "Part Ones" that we've had in cinemas recently, being that most of them are set to end with a second part. This isn't based off of a novel. It's a massive story that's been in the making for nearly as long as I've been alive. Chapter Two could be dreadful. Maybe I'll have to sit around for a few years waiting for Chapter Three and Four. I don't know.

What I know is that this movie, aside from the ambition in its format, manages to be a classic format in and of itself.

It's a story for the story's sake. It's directed, photographed, and scored in a way that exudes a bygone cinematic era. The movies ambition isn't in any kind of subversion of the genre or a modernization for a new audience.

The ambition is so great as to be likened to How the West Was Won. Only, this is a movie that dares to potentially be much larger and more daring.

If this is merely the exposition, one can only expect the future installments to become grander.

Of course, this movie will ultimately be judged by its part within the totality of this cinematic endeavor. As an experience in and of itself, it's great.

I think that people who chose to miss this movie while it's in theaters are bound to regret that decision.