REVIEW – Scott Cooper’s “Hostiles” Makes for Incomprehensible Genre Reinterpretation, with Wandering Christian Bale in Tow

by Joe Hammerschmidt

I’m not going to lie, the western genre is rather lost to me, where nary an engaging masterpiece exists. The outliers always appeared to make the strongest case for reminding us of the worth and weight in sustaining those films and keeping a generational interest, only to devolve into the largest melon-scratchers. Scott Cooper, who reignited the fires of the “gangster drama” sub-genre and saved Johnny Depp’s serious actor street-cred with 2015’s Black Mass, returns to put his spin on an average western in Hostiles, a Christian Bale-led drama that gets too cozy on its wheelhouse and can’t quite prevail above-average, noble in its quest as it is.

The first, and assuredly only thing that will catch your eye it it’s notable authenticity of a bygone era: late 19th century American territories, in the wake of land wars between local soldiers and neighboring Cherokee tribes. In the middle of this struggle, conflicted army captain Joseph Blocker (Bale) who is resentful in the requests of his superiors. To make amends with the community, he reluctantly agrees to carry an aging and disgraced war chief to his final resting place back home in Montana, carrying an absolute traitor as pure emotional baggage. Ben Foster, last year the overzealous little brother to Chris Pine in Hell or High Water proceeds with a somewhat more mature role as the war criminal with whom Blocker tries to overthrow. Alas, he’s not as memorable, and oftentimes a bit harsh to what the equally floundering Bale may strive to accomplish.

I return to the authenticity as one can analyze the significance of casting, where one of the few positive is a diverse range of quality Native American performers, the best I’ve seen this decade (I might have said
since Dances With Wolves, yet this writer had yet to experience that adventure), led by a commandeering Wes Studi portraying the aforementioned one-time leader just desperate to make good amid his peers one last time. Adding further, just with lower expectations, a battered/bruised widow, Rosalie (Rosamund Pike), recovering from a surprise Comanche slaughter which had taken her family too far away. With continued reluctance, Blocker adds Rosalie to the road trip roster, with mixed results on the merits of chemistry. Pike stands out so much better at those key scenes where no-one’s distracting her acting energy; it’s only when her motherly struggle is employed on screen that her opportunity for a winning screen presence is seemingly justifiable. Bale, on the other end, has seen better times, where it truly feels like h: at most running with the motions,
even with solid training in accurate native dialects.

Some may be free to argue with me over the structure of Hostiles as a starring vehicle for Bale, when really it’s a true ensemble film with an A-lister running in the center. How Cooper helms, and his frequent DoP collab Masanobu Takayanagi shoots the show, it’s as honest an “ensemble drama” as they come, complete with scenery inherent in its inspiration from the grandeur of the late-heyday cowboy tales of the 60s. Having the focus square on Bale’s character just makes the journey almost an impossible task; his is nowhere near the most interesting or relatable. In all honesty, he weighs the film down too deep into the ground and nearly destroying what would otherwise be a steady forward momentum against Cooper’s story, which may have just worked better on paper.

The excellent supporting performances, the ones I couldn’t bring myself to notice enough of, make the film, and just keep it going, notably Timothee Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name) on the Army’s side. He enters his scenes while a phase of simply blending in with surroundings, not as confident as his fellow newbs, but still possessing an eager spirit. For the traveling tribes-folk, it’s veteran Adam Beach as the next-in-line following his father’s eventual passing. Like Studi, strength is the keyword, an endearing type whose emotional truth requires little to no effort. Yet it’s still Pike’s wavering pillar of maternal instinct at the lead, charging the film through to the finish line, yet the way this film is constructed, it’s almost frustrating how little she can really show her raw nerve when within earshot of Bale and Foster’s ragtag back-and-forth. Nonetheless, it’s among her best performances where she’s simply expanding her comfort level; impossible to top Gone Girl, yet still equally satisfying as far as female protagonists go.

I was hoping Hostiles could’ve been carried well under Bale’s shoulders, but he tanked it too badly. Cooper’s work as both writer of an adapted script (originally an unpublished manuscript by Donald Stewart), and as director of said work can yield only mixed results with little consistency. Redefining a genre is never easy, even if it’s just returning to what made a type of film work in one era; it can’t possibly work as well now. Hostiles may’ve been more effective 25 years ago for sustaining the flow of the common American western; now it would just leave one pining for something much more engaging and less wasteful of its expensive leads. Even if you’re a significant fan of either actor, and unless it surprises everyone with a small trifle of Oscar appreciation, consider waiting to rent, and be ready to want to pause consistently. That may be the only way this rather boring western can make real sense to the viewer. (C)

Hostiles opens in Seattle this weekend; Regal Meridian, AMC Alderwood Mall, and Cinemark Reserve @ Lincoln Square; rated R for strong violence, and language; 135 minutes.