Shortly before the 1973 Chilean coup, CIA agents Chris (John Malkovich) and Lee (Sam Rockwell) are dispatched from Santiago to Easter Island by their bureau chief, MJ (Steve Buscemi). Amongst the Island’s iconic statues, and as the longtime partners wrestle with their dark pasts and present conspiracies, Chris’s newfound bond with a pair of rebellious students (Mariana di Girolamo and Ailín Salas) threatens to send everyone’s trip to this remote paradise sideways.
What We Thought:
As of the first week of November, Wild Horse Nine is my favorite film of the year. I always have high expectations for a Martin McDonagh flick (especially with Sam Rockwell) and not only did it meet those expectations, it blew past them with maybe the best performance of John Malkovich’s career.
Rockwell and Malkovich are two actors who will always elevate a movie. They will make a bad movie watchable and a good movie great. Rockwell and McDonagh have already worked together multiple times and I think Seven Psychopaths is one of the most underrated films of the 21st century. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri gets all the love, but I can rewatch Seven Psychopaths yearly and still laugh out loud consistently. In 2022 I expected McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin to be my favorite movie of the year and even though I liked it a lot, it didn’t win the year for me. It didn’t have Sam Rockwell and was more dark than dark comedy.
That brings us to Wild Horse Nine. It’s a dark comedy for sure, but it’s more comedic than Banshees. It may actually be bleaker than Banshees, but it’s a lot funnier because it leans into the darkness and explains why it’s so dark. Banshees is dark because Brendan Gleason decides he doesn’t want to be friends with Colin Farrell anymore, but never really tells the audience why. Wild Horse Nine is dark because of the situation the two leads find themselves in.
That situation is also why it’s funny. The pair play CIA assassins who find themselves on Easter Island because Malkovich wanted to see it. I’m not sure if what’s going on with him is a spoiler or not so I won’t say why. They were in Chile to help start a coup and meet two young women at the airport. The foursome end up on Easter Island together, all having their own secrets. The dynamic between Malkovich and Rockwell is just glorious. Both men play off each other perfectly (like Gleason and Farrell did), but the ridiculous of the situation lightens the mood that Banshees never lightened. I genuinely found myself hollering at Malkovich’s character and his utter contempt for hiding what he is, what he’s doing and who’s doing what around the world. The man simply doesn’t care anymore. He doesn’t care if he’s pissing off his boss or telling trade secrets. He’s writing a memoir and there’s no way on Earth a CIA assassin should be writing a memoir about the life he lead. Malkovich should land every Lead Actor nomination available because he’s never been better.
Wild Horse Nine is everything I want in a Martin McDonagh movie. The Irish playwright and filmmaker makes movies that we don’t get enough of in today’s world. His films aren’t politically correct. They go dark for the sake of going dark and I laugh hysterically at them. You expect Rockwell to get laughs, but Malkovich steals the show. I expect the film to get Best Picture nominations, Malkovich and Rockwell to land nominations and McDonagh as well. If you aren’t afraid to laugh in today’s world you’ll find yourself clapping and cheering at the theater. I can’t wait to own it at home.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Directed by: Martin McDonagh
Written by: Martin McDonagh
Produced by: Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Martin McDonagh, Anita Overland
Cast: John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi, Mariana di Girolamo, Ailín Salas, with Tom Waits and Parker Posey
