By John Corrado
Martin McDonagh is no stranger to the hitman buddy comedy, something that he did brilliantly in his 2008 feature debut In Bruges and 2012’s Seven Psychopaths. McDonagh’s latest, Wild Horse Nine, adds surprisingly somber and soulful notes to the formula, mixing his usual very funny dialogue with surprisingly moving themes of memory and mortality as well.
The film is set in 1973, in the lead up to Chile’s military coup, with aging CIA agent Chris (John Malkovich) being sent to Chile with his young associate Lee (Sam Rockwell) to destabilize Salvador Allende’s recently elected communist government. They stop over in Easter Island, because Chris, who is ill and experiencing memory problems, wants to see the big heads.
It’s apparent to anyone who will listen that Chis is a bullshit artist, constantly embellishing the truth if not simply making things up. This is why, when he openly tells Monica (Mariana di Girolamo) and Alice (Ailín Salas), two left-wing colleges students they meet at the airport, that they are there to destabilize the country’s democracy, the young women naturally assume he is lying.
The film has a somewhat wild plot, including CIA conspiracy theories involving the Kennedy assassination. But it’s grounded in the chemistry between Mallovich’s Chris and Rockwell’s Lee. The two bicker and fight and get on each other’s nerves, but we never doubt the bond between them.
As Chris, Malkovich is given possibly a career-best role, brilliantly portraying aspects of the character’s aging as he grapples with his legacy, which includes a pretty high kill count. It’s a surprisingly moving performance that is very funny as well. McDonagh’s rich screenplay generously provides wild tangents for the veteran actor to seek his teeth into, including a delightfully Tarantino-esque monologue about how “gay countries” have the best cheeses.
Malkovich’s performance might not work so well without a foil to bounce off of, which Rockwell provides. In his third collaboration with McDonagh following Seven Psychopaths and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Rockwell delivers wonderful supporting work, offering a more weathered version of a character he plays well. The cast also memorably includes Steve Buscemi as their CIA handler MJ, and Parker Posey as Marge, Lee’s philandering wife back home.
The film is ostensibly a hitman buddy comedy, but there is a darker aspect to Wild Horse Nine as well that adds underlying emotion to it. The tone is balanced perfectly by McDonagh. The cleverness of his script comes through not only in the twists and turns, but also in the way that he uses dialogue to set up both comic punchlines and emotional payoffs. The film is beautifully shot by Ben Davis, with Easter Island providing an almost lyrical backdrop to this wild tale.
Film Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)
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