Kevin Costner’s ‘Horizon’ Receives One Negative Review After Another Following Cannes Premiere

Just yesterday, we reported how Kevin Costner is struggling to find someone who will help him finance the third and fourth parts of his planned Western epic – Horizon. Costner is an acclaimed filmmaker and Oscar winner who has left us with many memorable roles, but the guy likes the Western genre, both as an actor and as a director. After the success of Yellowstone, Costner embarked on an epic journey to explain how the Americans colonized the West, planning to make a four-part movie epic. The first two parts will be released in cinemas this year, with the first film premiering in Cannes only recently.

Costner has invested a lot of his own money into financing the projects and is now looking for studios who are willing to give money to him to finish the project. But, based on the first critics’ reviews, Costner won’t have much luck in his endeavor, as the critics all but panned the first movie, calling it irreparable.

Many major and potential hits premiered at Cannes this year, but the critics have not been inclined to a lot of them; Furiosa is an exception, as the movie was praised by critics and will see a very enthusiastic group of fans rush to the cinemas next week. On the other hand, Coppola’s Megalopolis received polarized reviews, while Costner’s Horizon has been openly slammed by the critics.

Writing for BBC, Nicholas Barber gave the movie 1/5 stars and described it as follows: “But a film – certainly a Western – needs to have a plot, a bit of credible characterisation, and a structure that preferably includes a beginning, middle, and end. Horizon doesn’t have any of those.”

Ryan Lattanzio of IndieWire also provided a negative review, saying the following: “These aren’t characters so much as the spokes of a plot in human form, each of their storylines moving as if being pulled by horses across the entire span of the American West.”

Richard Lawson even called for a reevaluation of The Postman, one of Costner’s worst films in the eyes of many, in his review for Vanity Fair: “At least Horizon accomplishes one staggering feat: it makes one wonder if we were maybe a little too hard on The Postman.”

Variety‘s Owen Gleiberman also gave a negative review: “As a stand-alone film (which it isn’t, but let’s pretend for a moment), “Horizon” is by turns convoluted, ambitious, intriguing, and meandering. But it’s never quite moving.”

As did RogerEbert’s Ryan Daniels: “While the first film in the possible “Horizon” series does well in setting up future pictures, this single film is a chore to sit through.”

In a rare positive review, the Times‘ Kevin Maher actually praised the movie: “Costner boasts an instinctive understanding of the archetype and thus elevates the role and each line beyond the possibility of camp.”

As you can see, the movie has been described as boring, static, and old-fashioned. And while the whole saga – as a complete project – might end up making more sense, we don’t know whether we’ll be able to see all four movies. Costner’s effort is certainly commendable and great, but a lot more has to be put into making a great movie, and it seems that Costner has failed to do so with his latest project. We are, of course, going to follow up on this story, so don’t forget to keep following us.

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