Scott Cooper masterfully marshals brutal shootouts and elegiac moments in his first film since 2015’s underwhelming gangster drama Black Mass. Hostiles is a stern, deliberately paced genre piece that will delight fans of the old west. It’s a straightforward tale of a brooding army captain (Bale) who reluctantly escorts a dying Cheyenne chief (Wes Studi) and his family to their home as the territorial wars die down. Bale and Studi are astounding, delivering some of their finest work in years. The film is moodily shot by cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi, whose exquisite craft is coupled with Max Richter’s plaintive score. The cumulative effect of the hypnotic landscapes and soundscapes ensures that Hostiles can hold its head high alongside recent revisionist western gems like The Homesman and Slow West.
Hostiles | Directed by Scott Cooper (US 2018) with Christian Bale, Rosamund Pike. Starts May 31
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