Hostiles is another in a line of revisionist westerns to come out in recent years, where instead of straight good guys and bad guys, the movie tries to present a nuanced view of right and wrong against the backdrop of years of back-and forth violence between settlers, Natives and the US army.
Set in 1892, the film stars Christian Bale as Blocker, a grizzly veteran of the Indian Wars who has lost a lot of men and bears strong resentment of the Natives. Because he speaks their languages andknows the territory better than the other soldiers, he is selected to escort a dying Cheyenne chief, played by Wes Studi, and his family back to tribal lands in Montana. In spite of initial hostility between the two over their pasts, they come to respect each other after a series of life-threatening encounters on the journey, including raiding bands of Comanche, lonely trappers looking for love and a desperate prisoner on his way to be hung. Jesse Plemons from Breaking Bad has a small role, as does Scott Wilson, who played Herschel in The Walking Dead.
Bale portrays Blocker in whispered Batman-like grumbles, in a battle -weary take on the traditional cowboy hero. Studi, who has appeared in many films like Dances With Wolves and The Last of the Mohicans, plays Yellow Hawk with an almost cliche stoicism, since his character is given so little backstory and development to work with. He seems to be there only as an outlet for Blocker's rage at first, and then later only to provide the occasional noble wisdom and to show Blocker that Natives are people, not monsters. We are told of atrocities committed in the past, but nothing is really expanded upon.
The movie is full of violence and gun battles in between the little exposition and character development, and features some beautiful scenery of the American West. It was filmed in Colorado, Arizona, and in Angel Fire , New Mexico. This is what got me to watch the movie in the first place; Angel Fire is an hour and a half from my home in Albuquerque and is near Taos in Norther New Mexico. Most of the other characters are there as cannon fodder to show how dangerous and violent of a world our main characters must contend with. Blocker has a unexplored guasi-romance with a widow along the way, whose family had been massacred by the Comanche, but like all aspects of this movie, it is not developed and doesn't go anywhere.
This bleak movie looks great, but doesn't really go anywhere. It certainly hints at a deepness that just isn't there, substituting substance for violence, and falling into some standard cliches. Watch it if you really love the genre, but don't expect to much.