John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell shine in introspective dark comedy which offers as much dread as it does laughs writes Carter Smith
Martin McDonagh’s follow-up to Oscar-nominated The Banshees of Inisherin, Wild Horse Nine is a sombre buddy tragicomedy which follows the crass but innately charming Chris, a CIA agent in the last week of his life.
It’s 1973, and the historic overthrow of Salvador Allende’s government is just over the horizon. It wasn’t a good time to be a politician – assassinations, overthrows, secrets, the lot.
Two of the men responsible for many cover-ups over the years are Chris (An Oscar-worthy John Malkovich) and Lee (An electric Sam Rockwell). While Chile was about to face their very own catastrophe, the long-term partners had been dispatched by their chief, MJ (Steve Buscemi), to Easter Island.
It has been a desire of Chris’s to see the famous stone heads on the island. A fitting place for him to spend his days before cancer got one back for the countless people he had killed.
It’s a sweet story on the surface, but as a matter of fact, it is utterly chaotic. For starters, Lee and Chris are well into their old married couple stage. They bicker. They laugh. We laugh at them bickering. It’s a relationship which everyone has had before — the kind where at moments you can’t understand the string of decisions which led to you having a relationship with such an idiotic person. The constant look of bewilderment on Rockwell’s face at whatever yarn Chris is spinning is incredibly funny.
While there, Chris plans to write a memoir. No longer does he care about the secrets he had been sworn to keep. He is spilling decades of truths to anyone who will listen and anyone who isn’t. In particular, he strikes up a bond with two college girls who, through one of his truth-bombs, finds out the secret plan to overthrow their government. They are not best pleased with him. It’s this carelessness that has MJ task Lee with stopping Chris from spilling out groundbreaking information to any passerby.
So between the two of them getting into a spat, and Chris’s unpredictability coming and going, there’s not a lot of time to appreciate the sights. There is, however, time to look inward. Chris ponders his own mortality, how he spent his life, loyalty and friendship, and it packs quite a punch. Of course, the laughs are great, but it’s the introspection and existential themes which leave the lasting impact.
Was Chris a good man? Can you be if you have been responsible for so many atrocities? What is waiting for him once the world turns black? All these questions and themes leave you searching for answers along with him. We are not the judge.
- Wild Horse Nine will release in UK cinemas on November 4th
