I'm surprised this is getting such bad reviews. It looks amazing (cinematography, sets, costumes). It feels very real. The acting was great. There are a ton of interesting and very distinct characters. The action scenes were great and had a few surprises. The story was a bit meandering without really a main line, but it almost feels like a bunch of small portraits of parts of the west, strung together in a way that kept the pace up. It felt an hour less than it actually was. It alternated between very serious issues and much more lighthearted elements quickly and smoothly. Overall had a great time. It was ambitious (and apparently divisive)

Here's the thing: with little to no backstory for any of these characters, it makes it extremely challenging to actually care about any of them. And if I can't care about them, I can't get invested in the outcome. I spent so much time trying to figure out who these people were and when these people were, that I couldn't keep track of what was going on. Which brings me to my next point: I appreciated knowing where we were, but would it have killed someone to tell me when each of these storylines were taking place? In addition to not being able to become invested in the characters, I also had no context most of the time as to when these story lines were happening in relation to one another, and whether they had any connection at all beyond the "Horizon" flyer that kept popping up. The abruptness of switching between the storylines was also jarring, which brings me full circle to not being knowing the characters, which meant half the time I couldn't figure out if we had circled back to a previously introduced storyline or were being thrust into another one for several minutes, and about the time I would start to figure out where we were in this storyline, we were suddenly in another. Frustrating, because I think there are actually some really good stories to be told here, if we could actually get to know who the heck these people are.

I have no idea why Kevin Costner was so desperate to make this, I feel like I've watched all of these wild west stories many times before... I can't think of a single character that I care about so far, just random people doing random stuff.

Kevin Costner returns to the genre in which he has long held legendary status, and it seemed he had exhausted the topic, but it turns out he still has much to say... because this is just the first three-hour part of four. The film is good, but... Firstly, it feels completely out of date. This is Costner from the '90s, but not from the beginning, at the level of "Dances with Wolves," more like the late '90s with "The Postman." That's the impression I had while watching Horizon. I remembered that sentimental style from that film, the tear-jerking and pathos in every other scene... I remembered watching that film with my dad, and here's the twist... we kinda liked that film 😜 And as I sat in the theater watching Horizon, I was hit by nostalgia for those times and completely bought into how Costner tells this epic story. And the story is indeed epic. In the first part, we watch two stories that, at certain points, branch into additional plots, so we follow four or five stories in total. But two are dominant. In the first, we follow the fate of a woman and her daughter, who, after an Apache attack on the budding town of Horizon, come under the care of Union soldiers. Of course, at some point, we get a brief look from the Apache perspective. In the second story, we see Costner's character, who accidentally gets into trouble and has to flee a town in Montana with a prostitute and a small child. Just explaining these two plots would take me three hours 😉 The best part is that after two hours (I checked my watch), a completely new plot with new characters suddenly begins. In this plot, we watch a caravan of pioneers crossing the wilderness towards Horizon. It's crazy, but he film watches very well. All the plots are interesting, and we want to know how the fates of these characters will unfold. It seems that all these plots will intertwine, with the central idea being the town of Horizon itself, showing how the Wild West was won through blood, sweat, and tears. My biggest complaint is about the ending. I expected it to be cut off, without a proper conclusion. Instead, we get a montage of clips from the next part, which, in my opinion, reveals too much and somewhat spoils the atmosphere. I felt like the film ended with a trailer. I know they wanted to entice viewers, but it would have been more elegant to cut the story off and write "to be continued."

Give it a chance. Epic in scope. Great storytelling without dialogue. Good vistas. Excellent costumes. Superb acting. Not sure why others didn't like. If you like America, history and quality cinematic visuals just give it a chance. I watched on Max. Looking forward to more. I support Costner and his art.