Movie review
June 26, 2024 · 182 min · R
Woke Score
Lower is better
Review
This 2024 epic Western follows multiple storylines of 1859–1860s American settlers, families, cowboys, and U.S. Army personnel as they establish towns in Apache territory amid raids, survival struggles, and pre-Civil War tensions. It depicts the harsh realities of westward expansion through intersecting personal journeys without resolving into sermons. Minor period-appropriate diversity appears in background characters and Native portrayals. No central identity politics, gender messaging, or activist reframing drives the narrative.
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1.
Woke representation / casting
Minor background minority inclusions including a pre-Civil War black settler and Native actors in tribal roles fit the historical setting with no swaps or visible forcing.
Woke political dialogue
Rare anachronistic phrasing like repeated “Indigenous” references but no activist speeches or identity lectures.
Identity-driven story themes
Historical settler-Apache land clashes and survival arcs remain period-specific without modern identity politics or wish-fulfillment.
Western institutional / cultural critique
Depicts expansion conflicts historically without activist attacks on patriarchy, whiteness, capitalism, or Western institutions.
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
Fringe notes on minor elements; no meaningful backlash claiming woke, activist, or identity-political messaging (left criticism instead attacks it for not being woke enough).
Creator track record context
Costner’s Dances with Wolves sympathy for Natives but no pattern of modern activist or identity-driven work.
Production
