Movie Review: Hostiles (2017)

Hostiles (2017) written and directed by Scott Cooper based on the manuscript by Donald E. Stewart

Grizzled Civil War veteran Captain Blocker (Christian Bale) has one last assignment before he starts collecting his pension. He's ordered to escort Cheyenne Chief Yellow Hawk (Wes Studi) back to Montana so he can die among his people after a long imprisonment. Blocker is notoriously harsh to his enemies, especial Native Americans, so the assignment doesn't sit well with him. Chief Yellow Hawk also has a history of brutality against Americans. President Harrison has ordered Yellow Hawk's return, so the mission is politically unavoidable. Blocker reluctantly agrees. Almost immediately after they set out, they come on a burned-out ranch where only the mother (Rosamund Pike) has survived a Comanche attack. She's in a bad place mentally and is further shocked when she's brought back to their camp and there's more natives (the Chief's family were also in prison). The mother joins the long trek northward, sharing in the extreme hardships of the trip. The first among many obstacles is the group of Comanches who are still nearby.

The movie is fairly grim and joyless, which follows naturally from the theme of blood enemies needing to reconcile in order to make any forward progress for themselves or for society as a whole. Yellow Hawk and Blocker have basically the same history of bloodthirsty anger at another group of people. Yellow Hawk is at the point where he realizes it doesn't matter anymore; he's made peace with his fate and has learned to treat others as humans. He and his family make several compassionate gestures to the Americans taking them back home. Blocker is at the end of his military career and still carries the hatred but has lost a lot of the zeal for killing. He puts Yellow Hawk in chains as soon as they are out of sight of the fort and it's a long while before those chains come off. The two do come to a mutual understanding and respect by the end of the journey.

The beautiful theme is undercut by the hamfisted delivery. Some of the minor characters are anachronistically over-apologetic for the treatment of the Native Americans, making them sound more like paid political advertisements rather than actual people. Yellow Hawk comes off as the "native wise man" stereotype rather than a leader with a bloodthirsty past, also undercutting the theme. The performances by Bale and Studi help to mask the flaws of the script, but if you are politically sensitive to messages in films, the film will seem either really preachy or really great.

The movie's pacing is fairly slow. The countryside is beautiful and lovingly filmed. The actors have plenty of time to emote visually rather than verbally, which is good in a film. The pacing also gives the audience plenty of time to think about what's going on (maybe too much time).

Mild recommendation--the movie may be too slow or too political for some. I found it okay but not exceptional. I'm glad I saw it but don't feel any need to revisit it.