CIA agents Chris and Lee face a trust-testing mission from Santiago to Easter Island in 1973 in Chile.
With only five feature films and one short to his name, Martin McDonagh has made some truly amazing movies: “In Bruges,” “Seven Psychopaths,” “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” and, for some, “The Banshees of Inisherin.” I really loved “In Bruges”; I’d say it’s my favorite of his films, but “Banshees” was way overrated. It was labeled a black comedy, but I found very little funny, and it felt much darker than it should have. The premise didn’t work for me. A lifelong friendship ending abruptly over an extreme ultimatum felt forced, repetitive, and difficult to invest in emotionally. It was filled with relentless gloom and cruelty, and by the end, I didn’t care one iota about either lead character. However, I did sympathize with Colin Farrell’s Pádraic and his desperate wish to preserve their friendship, but by the end I cared little about either him or Brendan Gleeson’s Colm.
When I saw the trailer for “Wild Horse Nine,” I was very skeptical, as the trailer for “Banshees” had promised a funnier film than the one I saw, so I approached “Wild Horse Nine” with extreme caution. Thankfully, it is much better than its predecessor, but it is also not as endearing or engaging as McDonagh’s earlier works.
The film centers on Chris and Lee (John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell, respectively), two CIA agents who, shortly before the 1973 Chilean coup d’état, are dispatched from Santiago to Easter Island. We learn that Chris is dying from Cancer and also has early-stage dementia, and his final wish is to visit Easter Island. Because the dementia has stripped away his cognitive filters, he begins casually oversharing highly classified American state secrets, turning him into a massive liability. Lee, his longtime friend, accompanies him on the trip. Knowing he is dying, Chris is hellbent on writing his memoirs, but unbeknownst to him, their boss, M.J. (Steve Buscemi), has tasked Lee with following Chris everywhere and keeping him from revealing more—including what he may know about the JFK assassination.
As the two men roam the island, visit the big heads, and get to know a pair of rebellious Chilean students, they both wrestle with their dark pasts and present conspiracies. Chris keeps talking freely to anyone who will listen about his past exploits, while Lee constantly has to pull him aside or tries to pass off his disclosures as jokes. As M.J. continues to receive word back about Chris’s incessant talking, much to Lee’s surprise, he tells him that he is coming to the island to investigate, once and for all, whether Chris’s fading mind might accidentally expose some of the agency’s most closely guarded secrets, including his alleged role in the JFK assassination. Now Lee must decide who he’s loyal to: his longtime friend or the agency.
Malkovich and Rockwall shine in their respective roles, making their friendship utterly convincing. Malkovich captures the painful shifts in Chris’s condition: lucid and quick-witted in one scene, then confused in the next. Rockwell is absolutely brilliant here too. He relishes the moments when Chris remembers their past clearly, but you can also see the sadness in his eyes as his best friend’s mind starts to fall apart in front of him.
Buscemi gives M.J. a tense, darkly comic energy as a boss whose orders Chris and Lee routinely ignore. Parker Posey appears briefly as Lee’s ex-wife, Margie, while Tom Waits plays Chris’ older brother, Jim, though neither has enough screen time to leave much of an impression. The first half takes too long to find its momentum, but the last act gives the film its strongest moments. Once the turmoil with M.J. has passed, Lee and Chris sit quietly next to one of the island’s stone heads. It’s a short scene, beautifully performed by two actors who absolutely get the weight of what’s left unsaid. You do need to be patient to get there, but the second half is well worth it.
In Theaters Friday, October 30th
