Martin McDonagh’s latest film “Wild Horse Nine” is a familiar but undeniably compelling stuff. While we can easily recognize those typical themes and elements observed from McDonagh’s previous works such as “In Bruges” (2008) and “The Banshees of Inisherin” (2022), the movie is often captivating because of his own distinctive mastery of story and characters, and we become more engaged in its melancholic mix of comedy and drama while occasionally amused by its darkly absurd sense of humor.
The story, mainly set in Easter Island, Chile in the middle of 1973, is about Chris Carlisle (John Malkovich) and Lee Chesterfield (Sam Rockwell), two CIA officers who have covertly worked on the upcoming coup d’état which is going to overthrow the Chilean government led by President Salvador Allende. Because he is dying due to his terminal cancer, Chris begins to consider writing a memoir on his life and career, and he also becomes rather careless about their current operation. Needless to say, this does not look that good to Lee and their bureau chief MJ (Steve Buscemi).
Anyway, as he supposedly wishes, Chris travels to Easter Island along with Lee for what may be the last vacation before his impending death. While not so impressed much by those big stone statues placed here and there on the island, the tranquil atmosphere of the island somehow soothes Chris, and he becomes more reflective about his life and career as trying to remember and then gather any interesting material for his memoir.
As instructed by their supervisor in advance, Lee has steadily watched on his friend/mentor just in case, but, not so surprisingly, he only finds himself becoming more conflicted than before as observing Chris getting closer to his impending mortality day by day. Due to not only his deteriorating physical condition but also occasional shots of morphine, Chris’s mind becomes rather foggy at times, and the movie has some naughty fun with whether we can believe whatever comes out from his mouth (Was he really involved with what happened in Dallas, Texas on that day of November 1963, for example?).
McDonagh’s screenplay takes its time in building up tension while also fleshing out its main characters more along the story. At one point, Chris comes to befriend a couple of young local ladies, and what subsequently happens between him and one of them is one of the most dramatic points in the story. Because he comes to care about her more than he seems on the surface, he flatly tells something inevitable to her shock and bafflement, and that consequently leads to another plot turn later in the story.
And we observe more of the deep bond between Chris and Lee. Just like the two lead characters of “In Bruges”, they care a lot about each other despite a complicated circumstance between them, and we are not so surprised to learn later that Chris already made a little personal request to his protégé in advance. No matter how much Chris makes him frustrated and exasperated at times, Lee tries to do his best for his friend/mentor, and there comes genuine poignancy from how far he is willing to go just for protecting Chris as much as possible.
The overall pensive mood of the movie, which is often enhanced by all those gorgeous landscape shots vividly captured on the camera of cinematographer Ben Davis, is eventually disrupted by what inevitably occurs among its main characters during the last act. Nevertheless, the movie continues to focus more on the main characters even when we are jolted by sudden moments of violence, and you will admire how neatly it pulls out its somber but utterly powerful finale (I was not so surprised when an audience sitting next to me shed a bit of tear).
The emotional power of the movie depends a lot on what can be regarded as one of the best duo performances of this year. John Malkovich, who deservedly won the Best Actor award when the movie was premiered at the Venice International Film Festival a couple of months ago, is simply superlative, and I will not be surprised at all if he gets Oscar-nominated along with his co-star early in the next year. While being as detached and sardonic as you can expect from him, Malkovich deftly mixes a right amount of wit and pathos into his subtly nuanced acting, and the result is one of the best works in his long and illustrious movie acting career.
On the opposite, Sam Rockwell, who won a Supporting Actor Oscar for McDonagh’s previous film “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” (2017), is an effective counterpoint to Malkovich’s performance, and they always click together well whenever their characters push or pull each other along the story. In case of several other main cast members surrounding them, Steve Buscemi, who replaced Mark Ruffalo at the last minute due to the latter’s schedule conflict, Mariana di Girolamo, Ailín Salas, Parker Posey, and Tom Waits are all solid in their respective supporting roles, and Posey and Waits bring some extra humor during their brief but crucial appearances.
In conclusion, “Wild Horse Nine” is not so different from what McDonagh has steadily demonstrated to us since “In Bruges”, but it is still very entertaining thanks to its top-notch mood, storytelling, and performance. Although he does not excel himself here, McDonagh does not disappoint us at all, and that is more than enough in my inconsequential opinion.
