With such an enormous endeavor as Horizon: An American Saga, it’s straightforward to suppose that Kevin Costner may be spreading himself too skinny. However after a stable efficiency as Hayes Ellison and a few clear path for his main actors, Costner has confirmed as soon as once more that he has what it takes to convey the Western masterfully to life. However regardless of how spectacular Costner is because the main man, there’s one star whose efficiency (and character) rises above the remainder of the solid. If you happen to additionally thought Jena Malone, then you definately’re in good firm. Enjoying Lucy/“Ellen” Harvey in Chapter 1 of the American Saga, Malone shines in her immensely advanced function, reminding us that there was extra nuance to the mythic American West than we’d’ve thought in any other case. It wasn’t all simply cowboys vs. Indians; there have been additionally single moms attempting their finest to persevere by way of an usually merciless world.

Jena Malone Is a Highly effective Pressure in Kevin Costner’s Western

If there’s one factor that everybody can agree on regarding Horizon: An American Saga, it’s that the multipart, serialized Western epic has a significantly spectacular solid. Pulling in stars previous and new, Horizon doesn’t fiddle with its monumental grouping of characters, every one as layered because the late Nineteenth-century American West itself. However as one of the crucial essential leads in Chapter 1, Jena Malone’s Lucy Harvey stands out as maybe probably the most notable. Whereas the overwhelming majority of characters within the movie are both touring West in the hunt for a brand new life or new prospects, Lucy finds herself within the Wyoming Territory on the run from her messy previous, a previous that has but to be absolutely disclosed. It is this added thriller that offers Malone’s character a sure alluring presence, and makes us curious as to what Chapter 2 will ultimately reveal about her. What we do know of Lucy is that she had a younger son named Sam with a person named James Sykes (Charles Halford), a violent patriarch who practically kills the lady after she first makes an attempt to kill him whereas retrieving her son. As Lucy and Sam go on the run, Sykes sends his grownup youngsters after her to convey again his youngest youngster.

From that first explosive second we meet Lucy within the Montana Territory, we’re immediately drawn to her. Her willingness to enact violence for the sake of her youngster (and probably as a type of revenge) and to forsake all the things she is aware of, together with her personal title (she goes by “Ellen” for a lot of the image), is admirable. She exemplifies the sacred obligation of motherhood whereas brutally opposing those that would stand between the liberty of her and her youngster. It’s by way of Lucy that we meet the Sykes brothers, Junior (Jon Beavers) and Caleb (Jamie Campbell Bower), in addition to the younger intercourse employee Marigold (Abbey Lee), who connects us with Horizon’s most bankable star, Kevin Costner’s Hayes Ellison. With out Lucy, considered one of Chapter 1’s most aggressive conflicts does not come into play, and neither does the movie’s most notable gunfight. To say that her character arc is the cornerstone of one of many Western epic’s most vital plotlines wouldn’t be an understatement. Delivering a outstanding efficiency definitely does not harm Malone’s repute right here both.

Jena Malone and Sienna Miller Play Two Contrasting Sides of ‘Horizon’s Tackle Motherhood

It’s additionally price mentioning that Lucy serves as virtually a foil to Sienna Miller’s Frances Kittredge, although the 2 by no means truly meet up on display screen. Each ladies are fierce moms who struggle tooth-and-nail for the sake of their very own youngsters, every on completely different sides of the Wild West board. Actually, Frances watches helplessly as her husband and son are killed by a rogue band of Apaches, unable to do something however guarantee her daughter lives to inform the story. However whereas she finds salvation in being rescued from the invading Indians by First Lt. Trent Gephardt (Sam Worthington), a person who she quickly fancies, Lucy’s personal beloved, Walter Childs (Michael Angarano), can not defend her in the identical methods. As a substitute, Lucy is compelled to take drastic measures to make sure her son’s security, with Chapter 1 conceding that she fails in her process.

To additional distinction Horizon: An American Saga‘s two main girls, Walter is rapidly killed by Caleb Sykes, whereas Lt. Gephardt continues to romance the widowed Mrs. Kittredge. In some ways, the loss of life of Frances’ household — minus her daughter, Elizabeth (Georgia MacPhail) — results in the potential for an additional, whereas Lucy stays utterly and completely alone after the Skyes brothers kill the one different particular person she loves. Even her son Sam, who Marigold and Hayes run off with within the image, is so removed from her that she has no concept what kind of destiny is in retailer for him. Lucy and Frances’ tales couldn’t be extra completely different, although their motives are remarkably related. This is only one of many considerate examples all through Horizon of the notion that equality of end result was not a actuality within the harshness of the American West. Within the Nineteenth century, everybody needed to make their very own method when it got here to defending these they beloved, and never everybody made it out alive.

Jena Malone’s Lucy Is ‘Horizon’s Most Advanced Character

In some ways, one would possibly take into account Lucy to be Horizon’s most conflicted character. On the one hand, she’s a robust girl who loses all the things in her pursuit of motherhood. She is prepared to threat something, even loss of life, for her son Samson, and takes each precaution to make sure his security. On the opposite, she lives with Marigold, a lady infamous for bringing residence each stranger she will be able to, which solely heightens Lucy’s personal possibilities of being found by an undesirable get together. It is virtually a surprise that the Sykes brothers did not discover her sooner. Moreover, Lucy is proven early on to be proficient with firearms when taking pictures James Sykes, however then fails in her hysteric makes an attempt to kill Caleb after he first kills Walter proper earlier than her eyes. Whereas some would possibly take into account this inconsistent, it infuses a much-needed layer of emotional depth into Lucy that reminds us that, identical to many people on this aspect of the silver display screen, she, too, is an advanced particular person worthy of exploration. Slightly than feeling like a standard film hero, she represents the historic realities of these struggling to outlive the post-Civil Battle panorama.

Malone was completely solid for this half. The actress — who’s finest recognized for her roles in The Starvation Video games: Catching Fireplace, Delight & Prejudice, and Sucker Punch — has a protracted historical past of enjoying advanced ladies, and her half in Horizon isn’t any completely different. Actually, Malone had beforehand labored alongside Kevin Costner within the Historical past Channel’s Hatfields & McCoys miniseries the place she performed Nancy McCoy, one of many few McCoy ladies who married a Hatfield. That is probably how Malone first caught Costner’s eye, and it’s good to see them working collectively once more in one other main historic manufacturing. Like her Starvation Video games and Hatfields & McCoys characters, Lucy appears considerably unassuming on the skin, however can spring into motion at a second’s discover. Greater than that, Lucy has likewise made enemies on all sides, and struggles beneath the burden of these pursuing her. Given her clear capabilities, we’re hopeful that we’ll see extra to this aspect of the character in future Horizon installments — in the event that they’re ever launched, that’s.

Maybe the factor that makes Lucy Harvey so terribly compelling can also be the identical facet that drove Malone to her within the first place. “For me, it is like such a transformative option to see a lady,” the actress informed MovieWeb in June 2024. “Kevin [Costner] actually dials on this mother-wife character… it simply feels very home and easy, however because the layers unravel, you notice the complexities and the survival mechanisms which are in operation.” In Malone’s thoughts, she considers Lucy one thing of a Western vigilante, one who’s launched in one of the crucial attention-grabbing methods doable. This leads us to consider that there shall be much more to Lucy’s story than we all know now, and that Costner has huge plans for this Horizon character. It additionally reminds us that there is in all probability much more to Lucy than meets the attention, and teases that Chapter 2 will dive a bit deeper into her difficult psyche than Chapter 1 had time for.

‘Horizon: An American Saga’ Guarantees Extra for Jena Malone in Future Installments

For Malone, the Horizon expertise has been considered one of intense reflection. “I am consistently fascinated with how we settled this land and who my grandmothers have been in these areas,” she informed US Weekly forward of Chapter 1‘s premiere. “The extra I find out about it and significantly, the ladies of that point, it looks like components of me which have been eager to be heard.” If Horizon does one factor significantly nicely, it’s the method it handles its feminine characters. Costner tackles them with the identical respect, and definitely the identical prowess, as he does Horizon‘s male leads. Not solely are they simply as advanced and grounded as their male counterparts (one thing most of the basic horse operas of previous have been criticized for his or her lack of), however these ladies’s tales are additionally usually extra attention-grabbing. It isn’t simply gunfights and land disputes with them, however they actually characterize the way forward for humanity, bringing a toughness to the West in contrast to every other. The notion that many of those girls, like Lucy and Frances, can be prepared to convey youngsters into this harsh, war-torn panorama is a miracle in itself. Malone’s Lucy is a chief instance of this, as she continues to struggle and scrape for any little little bit of dwelling she will be able to discover within the pioneer-era mountain West, all for the sake of her son’s future. Fortunately, her story isn’t fairly achieved but.

On the very finish of the movie, Horizon – Chapter 1 teases the following installment, Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2, by revealing fairly a handful of clips spliced along with John Debney’s triumphant rating. Whereas we don’t see a lot of Lucy Harvey in these last moments (main some to erroneously conclude that the Sykes brothers might have killed her), it’s revealed by way of this footage that our heroine has survived to struggle on one other day. With Jena Malone confirmed to be returning for at the very least the second a part of Kevin Costner’s four-part Western (and hopefully extra, in the event that they’re ever completed), it is clear that this story is simply starting. Whereas issues didn’t precisely finish properly for Lucy — she’s now separated from her son and has been captured by the Sykes household — we nonetheless have hope that her story will prove for the higher ultimately. If something, Horizon continues to remind us of the harshness of westward growth, and the way all peoples struggled aimlessly within the settling of the American West.

Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 is obtainable for streaming on Netflix.

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