“Kevin Costner’s New Ventures: Beyond the Silver Screen”

Kevin Costner’s $100 million, three-hour Western Horizon: An American Saga, Chapter One has flopped, but Fox Nation continues to champion him through shows like Who Is Kevin Costner? and Yellowstone 150. This contradiction might be overlooked if Horizon were a compelling film, but it’s a lengthy, TV-style epic that muddles the history of North American expansion.

The film starts with a violent clash between whites and natives in 1859 Arizona, shifts to a storyline involving toxic masculinity in Montana, and ends with a chaotic blend of scenes from The Birth of a Nation and Inglourious Basterds. Costner, who also stars as Hayes Ellison—a conflicted gunslinger—presents a narrative that exposes his political views: a mix of skepticism about America’s founding and misplaced optimism.

Horizon struggles with a lazy, revisionist approach to the Western genre, offering little of the epic quality seen in classics like Heaven’s Gate. Its historical inaccuracies and Costner’s recent political endorsements, including support for Pete Buttigieg and Liz Cheney, further undermine its credibility.

For viewers disenchanted with Costner’s politics, Horizon appears as another elaborate distraction. Despite his past success with films like Bull Durham, Horizon fails to inspire, offering a dispiriting take on American history.