Wild Horse Nine

Some directors can take you across place and time and still retain that distinctive style.

Martin McDonagh takes his sharp scripting and twisty plotting to the 1970’s Chilean coup in Wild Horse Nine, which has a bit of a hint of his classic In Bruges about it.

We again follow a pair of conflicted, violent men in John Malkovich’s Chris and Sam Rockwell’s Lee, undercover CIA operatives with more about them than first seems.

As the plot fills out and the strings start to connect, the script still remains razor sharp and funny and the political backdrop just adds that little bit of real world parallel and critique that feels relevant and timely too.

Whilst perhaps not quite as laugh-out-loud or quotable as In Bruges or The Banshees of Inisherin, and sadly suffering from ‘some of the best jokes are in the trailer’ syndrome, this is nonetheless another brilliantly written film with some great lines.

Both Malkovich and Rockwell are electric in the leads (and a shout out as well to Steve Buscemi, Parker Posey and a great Tom Waits cameo) and both display that glimmer of empathy behind the eyes and some real emotional moments to go beyond the out of time and cold blooded aspects.

Malkovich, particularly, could be awards-bound here, clearly relishing the comedy and the role and he’s absolutely delightful to watch.

Visually, the settings are lovely but perhaps it isn’t quite as painterly as the aforementioned The Banshees of Inisherin or Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and, as an overall piece, Wild Horse Nine maybe sits towards the tail end of McDonagh’s oeuvre thus far.

But even that puts it above a lot of what else is out there and this is another funny and thrilling addition to the catalogue.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️