Movie · 2024 · Western, Drama · 3h 2m · R · English
Curator score: 1.1/10 (45.3K ratings)
The American saga begins this summer.
Overview
In 1859, families discover the lure of the Old West as they settle in territories from Wyoming to Kansas. Meanwhile, a gruff cowboy finds himself on the run with a prostitute and a young boy after killing a fellow gunman.
Ratings
Curator score: 1.1/10
IMDb: 6.6/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 51%
Metacritic: 49
TMDB: 6.8/10
Director
Kevin Costner
Production
Territory Pictures
Cast
Kevin Costner, Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Jena Malone, Abbey Lee, Michael Rooker, Danny Huston, Luke Wilson, Ella Hunt, Tatanka Means, Owen Crow Shoe, Jeff Fahey, Tom Payne, Jamie Campbell Bower, Michael Angarano, Georgia MacPhail, Giovanni Ribisi, Will Patton, Jim Lau, Isabelle Fuhrman
Where to watch
Amazon Prime Video, Max, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
An overstuffed, old-school Western epic with real grandeur in its landscapes and a sincere love for frontier storytelling, but it’s also clearly incomplete, unevenly paced, and more interested in setting pieces than payoff. If you enjoy sprawling, patient, character-heavy westerns and don’t mind waiting for the larger story to arrive later, it has enough craft and ambition to justify the ride.
Best for
Viewers who like sprawling frontier epics
Fans of slow-burn, ensemble storytelling
Audiences who appreciate big-location cinematography
Kevin Costner devotees
People open to a first chapter that feels like setup rather than a full story
Skip if
You want a self-contained narrative with a strong ending
You’re impatient with slow pacing and scattered plotlines
You dislike films that feel like a prologue to future installments
You prefer lean, action-forward westerns
You’re allergic to vanity-project energy
Overview
Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 is the kind of movie that arrives with its boots caked in dust and its ambitions hanging off the saddle. It wants to resurrect the frontier epic as a theatrical event, and in flashes it does: the widescreen landscapes, the lived-in faces, and the sense of a country being invented in real time all have genuine pull.
Worth noting
But as a first chapter, it is frustratingly partial. The film keeps introducing people, places, and conflicts without giving them enough dramatic momentum to cohere, so the experience often feels more like a long-form pilot than a complete feature. That can be a virtue if you’re in the mood for immersion, but it also means the movie asks for a lot of patience before it offers much payoff.
Bottom line
What lingers most is the sincerity. Costner clearly believes in this mode of storytelling, and the movie’s best stretches have the weathered confidence of classic studio westerns updated for a more fragmented, modern audience. It’s uneven, sometimes corny, and openly self-important, but it’s rarely indifferent. For the right viewer, that commitment is part of the appeal.
Top Letterboxd reviews
David Sims (3.5★) · 1748 likes
I promise i’m not insane for calling this normie dad twin peaks the return
Jake (0.5★) · 1632 likes
History Channel slop. And while I admire the ambition, this is nothing more than an embarrassing vanity project. This is television, plain and simple, from the look, to the pace, to the performances––and not even good TV. It’d be decent on the History Channel, pretty bad on AMC, atrocious on HBO. But to put this in theaters? As the first part in a 12 HOUR SAGA?? Please.
Setting aside the story, the movie looks ugly. The ONLY saving grace is… more History Channel slop. And while I admire the ambition, this is nothing more than an embarrassing vanity project. This is television, plain and simple, from the look, to the pace, to the performances––and not even good TV. It’d be decent on the History Channel, pretty bad on AMC, atrocious on HBO. But to put this in theaters? As the first part in a 12 HOUR SAGA?? Please.
Setting aside the story, the movie looks ugly. The ONLY saving grace is… more
SilentDawn (3.5★) · 1429 likes
70
Only Kevin Costner would release a three hour film that is essentially a mere 25% piece of the full picture just to spite the producers of Yellowstone. You see this miniseries I'm making? Paramount can't have it, Hulu can't have it. But movie theaters can. That's a proper ego. Old school hollywood star type shit. If you're not re-financing your beach home for your art, you're doing it wrong.
Listen, I'm going to be frank with you all -… more
Patrick Willems · 1254 likes
Was not crazy about this but then it ends with a montage that's really just a trailer for Part 2 and I can't lie, it looked cool. You got me, Costner.
1953 · Drama, Western · 1h 58m · NR · Curator 7.7/10 (86.8K ratings) · Where to watch: fuboTV, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential, MGM Plus, Philo
A foundational western that balances mythic imagery with intimate community drama.