Christian Bale portrays army captain escorting Cheyenne chief in western 'Hostiles'

The film is strong, if overlong and over-obvious. The actors, who also include Rosamund Pike and Ben Foster, are all strikingly good.

Scott Cooper’s “Hostiles,” set in 1892, is a strong, if overlong and over-obvious, western about Army Capt. Joseph J. Blocker (Christian Bale), who is ordered to escort a dying captured Cheyenne chief (Wes Studi) to his homeland despite the fact that Blocker fought against the Cheyenne and regards them as savages.

Cooper shows us that the savagery existed on both sides – on all sides. By the end of the film, few are left alive to tell the tale. The actors, who also include Rosamund Pike as a woman whose family was massacred by the Comanche, and Ben Foster, as a member of the military who killed an American Indian family, are all strikingly good. Grade: B- (Rated R for strong violence and language.)