Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 - Walmart Exclusive 4K UHD SteelBook

You have to admire the passion project. It’s not always something that works out but it takes a lot of grit and determination for an actor or filmmaker (both) to get the story they’ve wanted to tell for decades to the big screen. For nearly twenty years, Kevin Costner has been talking up his big passion project, a multi-part epic Western called Horizon. Tired of holding his hat out to every studio in town, the writer, director, and star put up his own cash and found some independent investors to get the film done his way. Well, part of it at least. Or more accurately, part of many parts.

Horizon: An American Saga is a tapestry of many tangential storylines all haphazardly woven together. The shuttle binding these disparate threads is a frontier destination, a simple flier advertising the opportunity for a new life in the town of Horizon. As the first thread shows, the problem with the land being staked and sold is it resides on Apache territory under the eye of tribal elder Tuayesuh (Gregory Cruz) and his hot-blooded son Pionsenay (Owen Crow Shoe). Within the next thread, we have the frontier U.S. Army cavalrymen led by Captain Gephart (Sam Worthington) and the first wave of settlers like Frances Kittredge (Sienna Miller) and her daughter who are of the few to survive a deadly Apache raid. Another thread is Ellen Harvey (Jenna Malone) and her infant son trying to escape their life with the sadistic Sykes Family. The next thread features cattleman Hayes Ellison (Kevin Costner) and the working girl Marigold (Abbey Lee) getting caught up in the Sykes dispute. Along the trail westward is an entire wagon train led by Matthew Van Weyden (Luke Wilson). All of these threads will glide together at the town of Horizon… eventually. 

Now that I've gone through three viewings, I stake myself as someone invested in seeing Kevin Costner’s multi-part Western epic - at least as many chapters as we can get. It’s not perfect, it’s a bit clunky, but I was entertained and want to see more. If it’s in four or five parts, then so be it. I want to see how it all comes together. Costner's gumption to put the money up himself is more than admirable. His passion for the project is obvious and clear. Each of these stories works well and Costner has a deft eye for capturing impressively executed action sequences and shootouts with solid character drama in between. But it isn’t flawless. Without being able to dive into the epic in its entirety, we have to settle for these initial pieces and it leads to some clumsy setup-heavy storytelling. 

After this latest viewing on 4K, my takeaway is that each of these story threads could have been their own film. As the story of Horizon spans the years just before, during, and immediately after the Civil War, an approach akin to James Michener's 1985 novel Texas might have served these stories better. The final destination is the same, so why not tell each part as its own succinct chapter of a larger story? We wouldn’t have this halting choppy start and stop to each piece. Even if there is some narrative overlap between threads (as I’m sure there will be eventually), after two, three, or even four or five films we would be fully invested to see it through to the end. 

Now to soapbox for a bit, I f’ing hated the online coverage of this film’s box office performance. Misreporting the budget of $100 million for two films as the budget of one one aside, this film underperformed but it wasn’t the tragedy the clickbait would have you believe. No one was crapping on Fly Me to the Moon’s horrible box office - and why not? That one single film actually did cost $100 million and it barely scraped together $41 million at the global box office. But because this was a Kevin Costner film (granted a star and filmmaker known for an enormous ego), Horizon as a box office bust was the narrative that had to play out. Sadly that resulted in the already filmed and completed Horizon: An American Saga Chapter Two being pulled from its release date and the filming of Chapter Three is frustratingly now in limbo. Alright, climbing off the soapbox now.

I’ve been waiting to see what Costner had up his sleeve ever since he started talking up Horizon so many years ago. Now that part of it is here, I just hope I get to see the whole thing. After some solid digital rentals and sales, maybe we’ll get a Chapter Two release date update and filming can continue on Chapter Three and Four. While I’m not a massive fan of this first entry, I was entertained, and more importantly, I’m invested in seeing the rest of the journey. 

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray 
Horizon: An American Saga Chapter One travels to home video for a 4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital Walmart-exclusive SteelBook release from Warner Bros. The film is pressed on a Region Free BD-100 disc with a BD-50 serving the film in 1080p. Both discs are housed in a two-disc SteelBook featuring the film’s theatrical poster art on the front, and might I say a more interesting image than the standard edition. The discs load to a static image main menu with standard navigation options.

While the film didn’t do amazing numbers at the box office, I’m glad to see Warner Bros. didn’t skimp on the 2160p Dolby Vision transfer. With that big disc space to occupy, bitrate is nice and healthy throughout and the image never falters. From the opening scene of a father and young son surveying the land, the details are sharp and clear. Fine lines, facial features, costumes, numerous grizzled frontier beards, and beautiful scenic locations are given their full due attention. A traditional-styled western the film favors golden tones while letting key primaries shine. Skin tones are healthy and human without appearing peached or too pink. Black levels are lovely and inky with some amazing shadows. The nighttime raid at about the 20-minute mark is an impressive example of blending the limited light sources, shadows, and image depth. But then so much of the film is shot on location with glorious scenic vistas the film is practically half travelog. 

But the action doesn’t stop with a great transfer, the Atmos mix for this film is generally fantastic, near demo-worthy material. From capturing the vast open untamed lands to inclement weather to guns-blazing shootouts, the track is lively and immersive. Frame one onward we have an amazing display of front/center channel, surround, and height activity. Heights get a lot of attention with rain storms, and rustling leaves, but then it really comes to life for the action scenes. Going back to the previously mentioned nighttime Apache raid, the heights are almost frighteningly effective in those moments. Dialog never falters, even when some cast members are laying on their thickest slab of frontier derp-speak. With all of the gunshots hoof falls and some big explosions, LFE has plenty of rumble in the subs for a lot of heavy impact.

Unfortunate, but perhaps not altogether surprising, there are zero bonus features in this set. Nothing on the 4K disc, nothing on the Blu-ray disc.

They call them passion projects for a reason, and usually, that reason is because no one else is as passionate about them. It takes the grit and determination of an individual to get the creative ball rolling. Kevin Costner has been chatting up Horizon since the days of Open Range. It’s taken decades to get here and after the unfortunate box office performance of Chapter One we may not see the whole show. We’ll at least see Chapter Two, someday, I just hope we can see the whole adventure so we can judge Costner’s epic in its entirety. On its own, it’s easy to see this film as something of a misfire, but for every little stumble in its sprawling plot, I felt Costner did enough right to hold my interest, get me invested, and left me eagerly wanting to see the next part. 

On 4K Ultra HD, it’s an excellent disc delivering a lovely Dolby Vision transfer with an exciting immersive Atmos mix to match. The lack of bonus features is unfortunate, but not unexpected. Maybe one day if all goes well we’ll see a massive complete epic collection box set. Until then, I’m calling this first chapter on 4K Recommended 

Also Available: