Kevin Costner’s massive epic Western series Horizon: An American Saga has a runtime and release schedule that requires a significant commitment from any moviegoer, but that level of patience isn’t something Costner has earned with me. To be clear, Costner is behind some truly great films as an Academy Award-winning director and veteran actor whose career spans five decades. I grew up appreciating Costner in his classics from the 1980s and 1990s, like Bull Durham, The Untouchables, and Tin Cup, but for every memorable film he’s made, there’s a bomb to match it.
His latest movie, Horizon: An America Saga – Part 1, is essentially banking on his target audience granting him a certain amount of grace due to his long and storied history. Unfortunately, just because it’s Kevin Costner directing and starring in a Western movie doesn’t mean I’m automatically investing my time or patience on the series. His infamous exit from Yellowstone certainly plays a role, but my reasons for distrusting an epic Western from Costner go back many years.
Costner Needed A Strong First Movie To Make Audiences Commit To Horizon’s Future
Part 1 being all set-up for the future doesn’t lure anyone in
Early reviews for Horizon: An American Saga – Part 1 are rough; as of this writing, the movie boasts a 45% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes. While Rotten Tomatoes is not the final word on a movie’s quality, it does provide insight into the common themes of the positive reviews. Many claim that the first part of the planned four-part series is overly long, and despite its length it never actually progresses into a coherent story. It’s a parade of famous actors being introduced as characters, and then they are swiftly moved on from so that another may be introduced.
It’s clear that the structure is intentional on Costner’s part. The release plan for the Horizon movies, in which Part 2 releases just six weeks after Part 1, indicates that the two movies are meant to be seen as two parts of a whole. Unfortunately for Costner, that simply isn’t a sound strategy for introducing a franchise to a brand-new audience, especially given that it’s relying on traditional Western tropes as opposed to bringing something new to the table.
If there was any chance of Costner picking up steam on his saga, he needed to lure people in with the first movie, and if early reviews are to be believed, he failed in that regard. Horizon: An American Saga – Part 1’s massive runtime asks that viewers commit to three hours, which even by today’s cinema standards is lengthy. If they aren’t drawn in by an engrossing story in that first movie, there is no motivation for them to return for the sequel, much less three sequels (all of which reportedly boast a similar runtime).
Kevin Costner Still Hasn’t Moved Past His Awkward Yellowstone Exit
Costner won’t return for the end of season 5
Like many others, I was upset with how Kevin Costner chose to exit Taylor Sheridan’s hit neo-Western drama Yellowstone. By leaving in the middle of season 5, he all but forced Sheridan to wrap up many plot lines in just the final few episodes. While plenty of rumors swirled about Costner’s abrupt departure from the show, the most prevalent was his desire to pursue his long-gestating passion project, which is Horizon: An American Saga. Leaving his fellow actors, the show creators, and avid fans well short of his seven-season plan for Yellowstone won’t help encourage anyone to see Horizon.
Kevin Costner’s Track Record With Epic Movies Works Against Him
Costner has a long list of critical and box office failures
In addition to the bad taste he’s left in the mouth of his current fans, Costner doesn’t have the greatest track record with movies that could be classified as “epics.” Dances with Wolves is the crown jewel of Costner’s career, but outside that, many of his epic movies have been massive failures. In fact, the best comparison for Horizon: An American Saga is 1994’s biographical epic Wyatt Earp. Costner now risks repeating that box office nightmare with Horizon, given that many of the flaws that critics found with Wyatt Earp are the same issues they’re now lamenting with Horizon.
Stepping outside the Western genre, Costner has a habit of putting together bloated, big-budget critical failures. His most famous might be Waterworld due to the sheer notoriety of its box office failure, but epics like Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and The Postman operate on a similar scale to Horizon, and they were both widely panned by critics. Simply put, Kevin Costner’s track record with epics isn’t enough to earn my patience when it comes to Horizon: An American Saga.