Kevin Costner’s epic western film “Horizon” has been a disaster — but, even though its US release got scrapped, “Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter Two” is getting a world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 7.
The movie, which Costner, 69, produced, co-wrote, directed, and starred in, is a multichapter epic Western co-starring Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Jena Malone and Danny Huston.
The first chapter premiered to a slew of scathing reviews.
A review for the BBC noted that a movie “needs to have a plot, a bit of credible characterization, and a structure that preferably includes a beginning, middle and end. ‘Horizon’ doesn’t have any of those.”
Variety slammed Costner’s film as “meandering” and said it “seldom seems to aim in a clear direction,” while IndieWire said, “These aren’t characters so much as the spokes of a plot in human form, each of their storylines moving as if being pulled by horses across the entire span of the American West.”
The Post movie critic Johnny Oleksinski wrote, “I could not fathom committing another 540 minutes of my time to this bloated ego trip,” referring to how “Horizon” was planned to have four parts.
He added, “It’s hard to believe Costner left ‘Yellowstone‘ to make such an embarrassing, poorly told mess … There are more than 20 named roles scattered all over the place — the San Pedro Valley, the Montana Territory, the Western Santa Fe Trail — and viewers strain to care much for any of them, so bland and animatronic they all are.”
“Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1” tanked at the box office, grossing a paltry $11 million on a $100 million budget.
The former “Yellowstone” star reportedly put $38 million of his own money into it.
“I’ve mortgaged 10 acres on the water in Santa Barbara where I was going to build my last house,” Costner told Deadline.
“It has thrown my accountant into a f – – king conniption fit. But it’s my life, and I believe in the idea and the story.”
Following “Chapter 1” tanking, “Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter Two” has been scrapped from the August schedule in the US.
But, the Venice Film Festival is still giving it a chance.
“My dream was always to show ‘Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter Two’ at the Venice Film Festival,” Costner said in a statement to Variety.
“The fact that now they have decided to show ‘Chapter One’ earlier in the day and then the world premiere of ‘Chapter Two’ that evening shows not only their belief in how the two films work together but their support of a director’s vision.”
