Title: Wild Horse Nine
Describe This Movie In One In Bruges Quote:
RAY: “That’s for John Lennon, you Yankee fuckin’ cunt!”
Brief Plot Synopsis: That Monroe Doctrine is a bitch.
Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: 4.5 Lee Harvey Oswalds out of 5.
Tagline: “From the Writer/Director of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and The Banshees of Inisherin“
Better Tagline: “”Maybe that’s what hell is: the entire rest of eternity spent in Bruges Rapa Nui.”
Not So Brief Plot Synopsis: Shortly before the 1973 overthrow of Chilean president Salvador Allende, CIA agents Chris Carlisle (John Malkovich) and Lee Chesterfield (Sam Rockwell) are sent by Chilean bureau chief MJ (Steve Buscemi) to Easter Island. It turns out visiting the “big heads” is big on Chris’s bucket list. But Lee is more concerned with his partner’s failing memory, tendency to blurt out operational intel to strangers, and insistence on writing his memoirs. As you can imagine, the details Chris could spill about past CIA ops is the source of some consternation. Both to Lee and, more importantly, their superiors.
“Critical” Analysis: If you created a list of greatest living screenwriters and didn’t include Wild Horse Nine writer/director Martin McDonagh on it, your list would suck. He’s not what you’d call a “prolific” filmmaker (five movies in 18 years), but something something quality over quantity something. Put another way, three of those movies (In Bruges, Three Billboard Outside Ebbing Missouri, The Banshees of Inisherin) earned McDonagh Oscar nominations for Original Screenplay.
Even if his films aren’t your cup of tea, few writers are capable of dialogue marrying black humor with ontological anxiety like him. The conversations, often — but not always — between two men, start off deceptively mundane. But as his movies progress, we delve deeper into the characters’ psyches and neuroses, with (usually) an ambiguous payoff.
And the violence. Don’t forget the violence.
Wild Horse Nine has a similar setup to In Bruges. Specifically, two men involved in a larger scheme moved off the board for reasons of their own doing. Like Bruges (or Banshees, for that matter), the dynamic is that of an older, cynical guy paired with a younger, more callow (if not outright dumber) dude. But rather than play a gruff Brendan Gleeson type, Malkovich’s Chris Carlisle is almost cheerfully accepting of his place in the greater scheme.
Mild spoiler: Chris is terminally ill (we learn this in the first act). That fact affords him the freedom to reflect on his shady past with the Company (“Guatemala was a success. The Bay of Pigs less so.”). It also renders him careless, spilling the beans about the coming coup against Allende to Monica (Mariana di Girolamo) and Alicia (Mariana di Girolamo), two young women also traveling to the island.
Chris and Lee’s relationship forms the heart of the film. But some of the most affecting (and chilling) exchanges take place between Chris and Monica. She and Alicia are almost hopelessly naive in expressing optimism about their “first freely elected Marxist president.” When even a cursory look at 19th and 20th century in Latin America history would have hinted at the likely U.S. response.
Wild Horse Nine also reunites McDonagh with Rockwell, who appeared in Seven Psychopaths and Three Billboards. With Rockwell coincidentally receiving a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for the latter. Lee is a capable foil to Chris, even as it gradually dawns on him how deep a hole his partner is digging. And not just for Chris himself, but for Lee and his family (Parker Posey is great in a small role as Lee’s “wayward” wife Marge).
But Malkovich is the real revelation here. Honestly, it feels silly to refer to his performance that way given his career. But in slowly revealing the layers to Chris’s character, he gives his best performance since 2008’s Burn After Reading. His effortless transition between wistful, aggravating, and icily professional provides a sturdy framework for McDonagh’s often caustic and cynical story.
It’s perhaps unfair to refer to Wild Horse Nine as “nihilistic.” But there are clearly limits to the extent McDonagh thinks we can resist entrenched authoritarianism. Nothing demonstrates this more than Chris’s chilling anti-police state advice to Monica (“Never let them put you in a car,” etc.).
Don’t let the lighter tone (perforated skulls aside) and sunnier environs fool you. Martin McDonagh still worms his way into the black heart of the human condition with disquieting ease. The fact he can make you laugh so hard at the same time is what makes Wild Horse Nine so effective. It’s top tier for him, which is saying a lot already, and Malkovich hasn’t been better in years. Maybe ever.
Wild Horse Nine is in theaters today.
