Hostiles

This gaseous, pompous, clumsily well-intentioned revisionist Western from writer-director Scott Cooper (Black Mass) offers all the hollow ponderousness of The Revenant without any of the technical exuberance. Christian Bale stars as Capt. Joseph J. Blocker, an accomplished Indian killer nearing the end of his service who gets ordered to escort an old foe (Wes Studi) and his family to their homeland. Making their way through the blood-soaked moral wasteland that is Blocker’s legacy, the pair slowly reach an understanding while fighting off violent threats from all sides. Cooper made a decent, low-key debut with the Jeff Bridges vehicle Crazy Heart, but ever since then he has wallowed in pointless violence and thunderously empty drama, and with Hostiles he has hopefully found his nadir. Bale plays hard-bitten terseness in the hammiest manner possible, but as a deranged survivor who joins the caravan, Rosamund Pike delivers the most embarrassing performance of the year.