Hostiles 2017

     The setting of this film is 1892 and a Comanche war group attacks settler Wesley Quaid and his family on their homestead.  Wesley, his daughters and their baby are killed with only his wife Rosalee surviving.  In Fort Berringer, New Mexico, Captain Joseph Blocker is informed by Colonel Abraham Biggs that he will be taking a dying Cheyenne war chief along with his family back to their tribal lands in Montana.  Blocker is adamant that he would like to refuse this mission.  Briggs threatens him with the loss of his pension and a court-martial for his refusal.  He chooses Sergeant Thomas Metz, Corporal Woodson and Lieutenant Kidder to also travel with him on this journey.  Private DeJardin is assigned to the mission by Colonel Biggs.  The group discovers Rosalee and her “sleeping” children.  She is in a bad way and tries to bury her babies but the ground is rock hard.  The men convince her to let them do the digging.  Later, there is an ambush by the same Comanche war party resulting in the death of DeJardin and Woodson is seriously wounded.  There is a stop at Fort Winslow in Colorado to seek medical treatment for Woodson and arrange for Rosalee to stay.  Rosalee decides to continue the journey since the next supply train will not arrive until Christmas.  The disgraced Sergeant Charles Wills is added to the group to be court-martialed and hanged at his original post on the way to Montana.  Overseeing Wills are Corporal Thommy Thomas and Sergeant Mallow. 

     I didn’t know anything about this film before I started to watch.  I thought this was good with strong acting and many tense moments.  The subject matter is also a change with not many new films in this genre.  In the beginning, Blocker is nursing a strong grudge about the mission because the Cheyenne chief is his sworn enemy!!  The distance from New Mexico to Montana is over 884 miles.  The company is traveling on horseback and on foot.  It would probably take 6-8 months for this journey because they would need rest times.  Plus, they couldn’t maintain a steady strong pace every day with women and a child.  There were times of rain and also snow.    4* (I really liked this movie)

134 min, Adventure directed by Scott Cooper with Christian Bale, Scott Shepherd, Rosamund Pike, Ava Cooper, Stella Cooper, David Midthunder, Gray Wolf Herrera, Rory Cochrane, Jonathan Majors, John Benjamin Hickey, Stafford Douglaas, Ben Foster, Stephen Lang, Bill Camp, Wes Studi.

Note:  Imdb 7.2 out of 10, Amazon 4.1* out of 5* with 718 reviews, 73% critic 72% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.1* out of 5* with 718 reviews, Roger Ebert 3*, Metacritic 65 out of 100 with 41 critics 7.2 out of 10 with 104 reviews,

Special Note:  Filmed in Angel Fire, Santa Fe, Chama, New Mexico; Pagosa Springs, Colorado; Clifton, Black Jack Group Campground, Benny Creek Group Area, Arizona.  The characters played by Rosamund Pike and Christian Bale have a profound connection that happened without discussing it.  They rarely spoke during filming unless it was their scene.  Donald E. Stewart wrote the script and his wife found the manuscript when she moved after his death in 1999.  Filming is mainly outdoors and it was the monsoon season.  There were shut downs because of lightning storms.  There is a mistake with the guns. they are shown as 1859 model Sharps carbines but this is a Civil War era weapon obsolete by 1892.  The Comanche were living in reservations in Oklahoma and the last group was taken there by 1882.  In the 1840’s, the Cheyenne and Comanche tribes were allies and  had finished with warfare between tribes and against the whites.