The Movie Guru: ‘Horizon: An American Saga’ never gets off the ground, but ‘Ultraman: Rising’ soars

Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 (in theaters) 

Westerns may be a dying breed, but sadly so are editors. 

For example, Kevin Costner’s “Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1” could have desperately used one. They could have cut down the unwieldy three-hour runtime (of what is supposed to be the first of four films, all equally long or longer) into a shorter, more focused story that would have given proper attention to a smaller cast of characters. Alternatively, they could have talked Costner into making this the streaming series it’s aching to be, re-ordering the scattered scenes into a deeper story that would let the audience actually get to know and care about the people we’re spending so much time with. 

Instead, we get a series of vignettes that feel almost randomly cut from the Encyclopedia of Old West Stereotypes. Costner doesn’t eat up the runtime the way I would have expected (though he does manage to snag a beautiful blond hooker much younger than he is), but it might have been better if he had. With so many storylines the movie doesn’t have a narrative center to hold onto, and as the runtime drags on it gets harder and harder to find anyone who’s even interesting. 

Sienna Miller tries desperately to give her character some actual depth, and Abbey Lee manages to at least bring some fun to the screen. But the script only allows for everyone to be cardboard cutouts, and the haphazard attempts at acknowledging Native American and non-white storylines only highlight how little Costner wants to. 

Chapter 2 is coming in August, and there’s a possibility it might be more interesting. After sitting through chapter 1, however, I’m not holding my breath. 

Grade: One star

Ultraman: Rising (Netflix)

One of the best superhero movies in years doesn’t come from Marvel or DC.

Even if you’re not familiar with the universe, “Ultraman: Rising” is still an entertaining, deeply satisfying look at dealing with the legacy of being a costumed hero. Unlike many of the blockbuster superhero movies of the last few years, the movie balances fun action scenes with solid character dynamics, good dialogue, and moments of real emotion. Even better, it’s a great entry point that doesn’t require you to have watched three previous movies and two streaming series to understand what’s going on.

In the movie, a famous baseball player named Kenji Soto is forced to come home after his mother’s death to help his father fight monsters as Ultraman. Not only does he have to juggle his career with being a costumed monster fighter, but he has to wrestle with his relationship with his father. When he finds himself taking care of a temporarily orphaned baby monster, he realizes that things are both more complicated and far simpler than he ever imagined.

Though it could do with some tightening – an issue shared by nearly every superhero movie of the last few years – there’s more than enough here to keep your attention through the two-hour runtime. The fatherhood angle manages to be both wrenching and funny by turns, and some of the fight scenes are genuinely epic. 

All together, it’s a perfect movie for superhero fans who want something more than they’ve been getting in theaters.

Grade: Three and a half stars

Jenniffer Wardell is an award-winning movie critic and member of the Utah Film Critics Association. Find her on Twitter at @wardellwriter or drop her a line at [email protected].