History Week! Hostiles Movie Review

Hostiles is a 2017 historical western film, that was everything I wanted... but in a different way.

Hostiles follows US Army Capitan Joseph Blocker (Christian Bale) in 1892 as he is tasked with transporting an old enemy of his to safety Cheyenne Chief, Yellow Hawk(Wes Studi). Capitan Blocker and Chief Yellow Hawk fought against each other at one point. Now Capitan Blocker and a group of soldiers must safely escort Chief Yellow Hawk and his family to Montana. Along the way they meet a woman named Rosalee Quaid (Rosamund Pike) whose family was killed, and she joins them on their journey.
When I went into this story, I thought it would be this grand adventure, and it is but not in the way I expected. This movie was a pleasant surprise and I enjoyed how Hostiles demanded my attention and kept ahold of it all the way through the journey. There's just a vibrance about this movie, which is, in a way, beautiful.
I should note, that this movie is not based on any historical event, and you might think this would break any sort of rules for history week, but I allow period pieces, so long as they set it within the realm of possibility.
The acting is so immersive in this film, at times it will just hold you in awe. I can't think of a bad performance in Hostiles. Christian Bale does a fantastic job as the protagonist, as he hits another home run performance.
Hostiles was directed by Scott Cooper, and I'm very impressed with how he crafted this movie. I could almost feel the passion in this project. I'm curious to see if he'll direct more western, or historical period piece style films.
Hostiles will probably go down as a movie that I will want to watch and rewatch, again and again, over and over. I loved this movie, and I think you will too.

final score: 4.5/5

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