Rent Hostiles (2017)

Terrific Western - Hostiles review by Alphaville

Exquisitely directed, thrilling, thoughtful Western set in the 1890s. Indian-hating officer Christian Bale has to escort old Cheyenne enemy Wes Studi, now a dying man after several years in prison, and his family back to his Montana homeland. They’re joined by Rosamund Pike, whose family has been killed by Comanches in a riveting opening sequence. Who are the hostiles? It’s complicated. Comanches and Cheyennes also hate each other, and there are some bad white men around too.

There are some tense scenes as we become increasingly involved with the disparate group and their journey. Bale’s character especially is a fine construction, balancing a justified hatred for ‘savages’ with great tenderness. Despite this, and plenty of action scenes, the tone is surprisingly elegiac, encompassing a journey in spirit as well as in time and space.

The beautiful Western landscape allows room for all of these complex themes to develop. Don’t expect the usual Western clchés. The plot constantly surprises and is impossible to predict, as is the edge-of-seat climax. Writer/director Scott Cooper’s Hostiles is one of the most multi-layered and exciting Westerns to hit the big screen in a long time. It will stay with you.

Serious philosophical western. - Hostiles review by TE

The western genre continues to survive via a string of inventive and thoughtful films. Fewer westerns are made these days, but they tend to be good quality movies (the clownish Tarantino ones excepted!).

'Hostiles' is a strong, memorable entry in the canon.

The landscapes and the narrative draw the viewer in, and everything is presented with an eye for gritty realism.

The only question mark is: just how many moral choices and dilemmas can one movie sustain? All the big themes are there...racism, gender politics, forgiveness and the dark violence at the heart of the American project.

The film is particularly damning (and rightly so) of the white invaders of native territories. It feels a relevant film in the light of what Trump is doing right now.

Thought provoking and memorable - Hostiles review by RS

What can I add to what has already been written? A stunning, brutal and thought provoking revisionist Western. A vast canvas of humanity and inhumanity. Who is after all is the most hostile? A mixture of both despair and hope, complex and poignant. Not easy to watch in places but an extraordinary visual and emotional experience.

Fantastic movie - Hostiles review by AP

One of the best movies I've seen in a long, long while. Christian Bale is outstanding. I thought about it for days afterwards. The redemption and humility of the story line will stay for you for a long while as well.

A bleak and violent western that will become a classic of the genre - Hostiles review by Philip in Paradiso

In 1892, in New Mexico, Captain Joseph Blocker of the US Army is ordered to escort dying Cheyenne chief Yellow Hawk and 4 members of his family back to their tribal lands in Montana. Capt Blocker hates Indians but is forced to accept; it is to be his last mission before retirement. On the way, he picks up a farmer’s widow, Rosalee, whose entire family has been slaughtered by a Comanche raiding party.

The film narrates the journey, fraught with danger, of Capt Blocker, his men, Rosalee, and the Cheyenne party under his responsibility to Montana. The movie, as other reviewers have said, is bleak, dark and violent. But it is also beautiful: beyond the obvious western that it is, it is also a journey of discovery, particularly for Christian Bale, the lead character, who is simply amazing in the part he plays.

My only reservation would be regarding the last third of the film or so, which slips into some sort of sentimentality, when the cruel and violent white men realise that they have been treating the Amerindian population appalingly -- and no doubt it is true they did. It strikes me as a politically correct re-interpretation of American history that most probably does not reflect the dominant feelings among whites in the USA at the time, who, I believe, held racist views and had no feeling of guilt about those at all...

Overall, it is still an excellent film and a very good western.

A gritty depiction of the Old West that could become a classic - Hostiles review by Rod

Excellent casting of Christian Bale as the hard-bitten, laconic and bitter army captain on one final mission, compared with his charge - a similarly laconic, but serene Cheyenne chief who has dignity and acceptance of his fate. The film slowly and sparingly portrays the acquiescence of the captain to the differences that had separated the two of them and a recognition of the chief's quiet dignity. Somehow, the captain's use of his fluent knowledge of the Cheyenne language led me to conclude early on that respect would grow between the two characters - a true bigot might never have conceded the use of a foreign tongue.

By comparison, the part played by Rosamund Pike is well-acted in showing how the sheer horror of the murder of her family and repeated examples of violence throughout the story can beat a person's character into near silence, with recovery only to be knocked back once more. Nearly all the travellers were carrying some - by modern standards - unimaginably heavy mental burdens, through the brutality of their lives and their environment. For all that, I found the violent scenes, while gory, to be 'plausible' and not gratuitous, as in some 'shocker' westerns from the past.

A compelling theme that held me throughout the film was the doggedness with which the small party plodded on quietly despite the regular decimations that befell it. Some films would have given voice to the breath-taking scenery - but trhe travellers were oblivious to anything other than sheer survival, while that modern travellers would have stopped for 'selfy' opportunities and a Starbucks flat-white.

Just a small point: I found the contrast interesting between the wilds (ever-present threat of savagery from behind every rock and tree) and the clean orderliness of the military outposts with a sure indication of the encroachment of modern life. This was especially evident in the final scenes of modest but burgeoning urbanisation in Butte, Montana... for one to catch a train all the way from Montana to Chicago surely indicated that the settlers were arriving and were people of means ($$$).

I'm not sure how this film has featured in terms of awards, but it certainly deserves to go into the annals as one of the best and most authentic westerns of the 21st Century. It was well-acted, and with a riveting story. I had no problems with the length of the film, which allowed the weight of the characterisations and what befell the travellers to develop well in a savage landscape.

Chris is baleful. - Hostiles review by NC

Lot of guilt trip films out there. Bale does the redneck with soul pretty good. Is hard to be locked down hard-case, and show some inner feelings going on as well.

The entire cowboys and indians timescale was actually quite small. Interesting to think what we were up to in UK in 1892!

Daniel Craig would be hard pushed with his Glock or Beretta to do better than these guys. Is known fact that, in a stand up at 10 feet apart gunfight, a Colt 6 shooter may actually fire 4 times, but after even all 12 bullets were discharged it was rare for either prtaganist to be hit, let alone killed..........the rest of the street or bar may not have been so lucky. The rifle, or shotgun, was king. Hence Wyatt Earp having almost a rifle barrel fitted to his pistol by Buntline . He had pretty fair chance of a hit! Billy the Kid killed most people in ambush, from behind, with a rifle.

Nice to see Bale's uniform falling to bits though. At his age would be very lucky to have had any teeth left, let alone white. Rosamund would have looked less like a film star for sure.

Wes Studi is the real deal. Cherokee etc. Was superb, as he was in Last of Mohicans and dances with Wolves.