Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 (2024) review

Part one of Kev's planned tetralogy set in the Wild West (the second movie is supposedly already in the can) involves an up-and-coming new town called Horizon and follows around several individuals trying to survive, including "horse trader" Hayes Ellison (Costner), First Lt. Gephardt (Sam Worthington) of the U.S. Army, widowed Frances Kittredge (Sienna Miller) and her daughter, prostitute with a heart-of-silver Marigold (model Abbey Lee) and a few others ... not to mention the Apache, who aren't happy about people on their land (which, again, is understandable).  You can blame the early success of his directorial debut Dances With Wolves (which won Best Picture) and, more recently, the popularity of the Yellowstone series (which was co-created by Taylor Sheridan) on the Paramount Network for Costner to think he could make this work (he partially funded it himself), but unfortunately it's marred by pitiful dialogue, spotty acting and character types casually lifted from other Westerns.  I'll join the chorus in arguing, if anything, it should have remained a multi-part TV show, but I suspect the hubris of the director might be an issue (his sense of self-importance is not matched by his level of talent) - at the conclusion, it shows off what's coming in future installments, but at that point the cinematic tryptophan fully kicked in and I wished I screened a B-movie starring Joel McCrea instead.