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James Mottram

4/5 stars
With Wild Horse Nine, the fifth film of his much-heralded career, Martin McDonagh returns to the joys of his first.
The director’s 2008 debut, In Bruges, was a sublimely written tale of two hitmen arguing in the picture-postcard town of the title. Similarly, his latest introduces us to two CIA operatives bickering as they head to the remote Chilean territory of Easter Island in 1973.
That is not to say Wild Horse Nine – screening in competition at the Venice International Film Festival – feels like a rehash of In Bruges; far from it.
Here, McDonagh presents a jet-black comedy set at a time when the CIA was moving all the pieces on the geopolitical chessboard.


A married father of two, Lee (Sam Rockwell) is under instructions from his heroin-addicted boss MJ (Steve Buscemi) to keep an eye on Chris (John Malkovich), a veteran of that fateful day in Dallas a decade earlier when John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
Now the ailing Chris is threatening to write an explosive memoir, much to MJ’s chagrin.
Already, he has lost all sense of propriety, openly discussing on an aeroplane how many people he has killed and blatantly telling two shocked students he meets in Santiago airport that he and Lee have come “to destabilise your democracy”.
More chillingly, he later tells them that a military coup to overthrow the country’s president, Salvador Allende, will see hundreds tortured.
Their reason for heading to Easter Island, where they join the tourists to see “the heads” – the mysterious, carved statues that adorn the coastline – will become clear.

But as hinted by The Rolling Stones’ “Out of Time” on the soundtrack, this is a story where the spectre of death looms large, just as suspicion and terror cling to these characters. “Don’t trust Lee,” reads a note that Chris carries with him.
The power of Wild Horse Nine lies in the Rockwell-Malkovich double act.
Rockwell, who won an Oscar for his work on McDonagh’s 2017 film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, is brilliant, but the real pathos comes from a world-weary Malkovich, who must surely be a major contender this coming awards season.
Buscemi, meanwhile, is gloriously entertaining, and Parker Posey is in acerbic form as Lee’s spouse Marge, left to deal with the fallout of her husband’s line of work.

Scripting with not a shred of concern for political correctness, McDonagh has crafted a bleak but darkly funny character study, one that plays out on the world stage.
Riotously entertaining, Wild Horse Nine will make you laugh, feel guilty and then laugh some more.
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Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine, starring John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell, delivers razor-sharp satire and award-worthy performances


Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine, starring John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell, delivers razor-sharp satire and award-worthy performances.


European cinema

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Robert F. Kennedy

An assessment or critique of a service, product or creative endeavour.  Film reviews, restaurant reviews, reviews of art exhibitions. (Eg. Crazy Rich Asians: an important film, yes, but a good one?)


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.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine, starring John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell, delivers razor-sharp satire and award-worthy performances

Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine, starring John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell, delivers razor-sharp satire and award-worthy performances