Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1

“Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1” is the first of director Kevin Costner’s planned four-part western series. Given the project’s enormity, and expected enormous overall length, there was apparently talk along the way of making it a television miniseries instead only for Costner to insist it remain a big screen experience. And that is where “Chapter 1” debuted back in June, as did “Chapter 2” just recently at the Venice International Film Festival, on the big screen. As a proponent of the big screen experience myself, I admire his commitment, as I do him plunking millions of his own money into the endeavor. And while it feels a little harsh to judge this massive tetralogy after but one movie, like adjudicating a ginormous puzzle based on nothing but its border, he’s asking for quite a down payment on an ultimately uninvolving and unimaginative three hours. As it happens, this winter I watched all 15 hours of Rainer Werner Fassbender’s “Berlin Alexanderplatz” (1980) not just for the first time but in a movie theater. Based on a book, it was divided into 12 chapters rather than four, but it was remarkable how each chapter worked unto itself even as they gradually added up to something bigger. What’s more, despite premiering on television, it felt cinematic, utilizing technique and tone, which as much as anything, is what’s missing from “Horizon,” the ultimate irony. “Berlin Alexanderplatz” was shown on TV, but feels like a movie, whereas “Horizon” was shown in movie theaters, but feels like TV.

“Horizon” is set against the backdrop of the Civil War but given that events take place in and around the Arizona and Montana territories, the conflict feels distant. That can sometimes come across like an oversight, if not a cop-out, a movie set during the most fraught period of American history eschewing politics, even if just as often it evokes “Horizon’s” most pointed realization. Though calvary and infantry Col. Albert Houghton (Danny Huston) never delves into specifics of the “important” work he and his men are doing on the far-flung frontier, Huston carries it in his air, nevertheless, that whenever the war between the states resolves itself, Manifest Destiny will continue apace, one original sin giving way to the other. That sense of Manifest Destiny is explored through its various storylines, brotherly vengeance that entangles a grizzled cowboy and a woman, the eponymous settlement at odds with the indigenous, and a wagon train on the Santa Fe Trail. The latter stood out to me, if only because of Luke Wilson as the wagon train leader, his unique kind of amiability suggesting both someone you might want to lead you into the great unknown but also someone who might well be in over his head. Seeing how it all works for him is just about the only thing that might get me back for “Chapter 2.”

The two qualities I cite, however, also speaks to “Horizon’s” problem, relying on Huston and Wilson to imbue character and meaning where there is none. No doubt Costner intends “Horizon” as something akin to Larry McMurtry’s celebrated 1985 novel “Lonesome Dove” but whereas “Lonesome Dove” lingered in the presence of its characters, took interest in what they had to say, drew its complications and situations with color and eccentricity, “Horizon” does nothing of the sort. That also speaks to just how little Costner uses his expressly chosen medium to his advantage. The locations are frequently grand, but just as frequently Costner fails to render the scenes involving these locations, or any others, with any sense of grandeur. His image-making is purely functional, not using them to tell his story, or even enhance or underline it, but merely recount it, a full three hours of advancing a labyrinthine plot, little else. It all ends with scenes that have been clearly culled from the next movie, the most evocative visuals by far if only in so much as they are manifestation of how “Chapter 1” has been in service of nothing more than getting us to “Chapter 2.” Close your eyes and you can virtually hear Costner saying: “Next week, on ‘Horizon.’”