For a moment or two, Hostiles seems like it’s going to be a star-studded western adventure, a rousing popcorn-muncher in the vein of Silverado or The Magnificent Seven. (The less said about the recent, shitty remake of The Magnificent Seven, the better.) Hostiles’ supporting roles are stuffed with big names: There’s Jesse Plemons, thanklessly playing third fiddle to Christian Bale’s gruff Captain Joseph Blocker and his drunkard second-in-command, a beardy, terrific Rory Cochrane (Dazed and Confused). There’s Ben Foster as a traitorous officer on the way to his own hanging. And there’s newly minted “it” boy Timothée Chalamet as a slender, French-accented private who’s not quite sure why he was chosen for the mission.
But for all that window-dressing, writer/director Scott Cooper (Out of the Furnace, Crazy Heart) is more interested in the interior story of Blocker, who’s desperate to finish out his army service and collect his pension.