Captain Joseph Blocker (Christian Bale) is assigned one last mission direct from the President of the United States to escort dying Cheyenne war chief Yellow Hawk (Wes Studi) and his family back to their tribal lands in Montana. He reluctantly agrees despite his reservations over the soldiers he saw Yellow Hawk kill years ago. Along the way, he and his detail of soldiers come across Rosalie Quaid (Rosamund Pike) who saw a Comanche war party kill her husband and kids. A series of adventures see the chief and his family banding together with Captain Blocker and his men as they face danger from the Comanches, white men, and Sgt. Charles Wills (Ben Foster) that Blocker is asked to escort to be hanged.

HOSTILES is all in the details from the costumes to the fantastic beautiful cinematography to the character development. The story may be uneven at times, but it dwells on issues of coming to terms with your past and dealing with PSTD (Captain Blocker deals with it better than Sgt. Wills). It portrays the Native Americans accurately from the clothing to the customs to the language. HOSTILES is one of the better Westerns in recent years. Christian Bale is a stand out as the movie paces itself to the uncertain conclusion as you wonder if Yellow Hawk will live long enough to get to Montana and what Joe blocker will do after he gets out of the military (as he is at the end of his career killing Indians and imprisoning them afterwards). Rosalie suffers from loss and she must find the strength to go on. If you’re a fan of Westerns, you should go see HOSTILES.

This initial review is ©1-28-2018 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

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