Release Date – 4th November 2026, Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 57 minutes, Director – Martin McDonagh
Two CIA agents (John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell) take a break from trying to dismantle the 1973 Chilean government to holiday on Easter Island.
Make In Bruges’ Ray, Ken and Harry American and switch the titular city for Easter Island and you’ve almost got Wild Horse Nine, the latest from writer-director Martin McDonagh who brings back his biting dark humour for a look at aging and mortality that’s got a bit more tenderness and buddy nature than his previous feature, The Banshees Of Inisherin. “It’s lonely here. It’s lonely everywhere if you’re dying” muses John Malkovich’s aging CIA operative Chris as he looks over the island from one of the bright green hills. His life has largely been one of service, with plenty of stories that can’t be told, or even hinted at, and he finds himself reflecting on that whilst composing his memoirs.
Memoirs which, whilst containing a lot of thoughts on dinosaurs, are being studied by younger colleague Lee (Sam Rockwell), who has worked closely with Chris but is sent by boss MJ (Steve Buscemi) to make sure that one particular detail from a conspiracy-surrounded job ten years prior doesn’t make it in. Instead, while what he hears has plenty of humour to it, especially when feeling as if he’s wasting his time, it adds a more reflective sense to Malkovich’s performance. Malkovich is deservingly an awards frontrunner for his turn here, as he brings out a tenderness in-between the laughs from his character. He’s a fun yet melancholic figure, and his approach to aging and death, well observed in McDonagh’s distinctive screenplay, feels genuine and thoughtful.
Rockwell, almost always demolishing a cheeseburger, counters this with a sense of reluctance as he’s pulled in different directions by work and his apparent holiday. The pair work brilliantly together and bring about consistent laughs in the back-and-forths between the pair who, particularly in the case of Chris, are finding themselves on the cusp of unacceptable conversation a lot of the time – particularly around two Chilean students (played by Mariana di Girolamo and Ailín Salas), almost acting as this film’s version of the hotel owner from In Bruges.
McDonagh’s focus is on the conversations between the pair, unfolding as they go round to look at giant stone heads at different points on the island, and wonder why they didn’t go to Venice. The more narrative-based action pushes them along and gives greater context or detail for them, bringing out the quiet emotion, held within like it is particularly for Chris who gradually leaks out (sometimes unintentionally) his real thoughts on the life he’s lived, and how he now feels being closer to the end with age. The plot, which brings Buscemi’s frustrated boss – you can practically hear the stress veins bursting from his head – more into the picture, brings in much of the stinging black humour and quips that McDonagh excels at so well in his screenplays.
Yet, our biggest connection and push for the events remains the friendship at the centre of the film. It feels honest and like a proper friendship rather than two colleagues, however much one tries to remember and think about the job/s at hand and remain somewhat professional even whilst attempting to relax amongst the surroundings. This is as close a fusion between a buddy movie and a Martin McDonagh feature can be, and it’s as entertaining as you’d imagine. Bringing in the laughs, and thoughtfulness, whilst avoiding entering the melancholy present in Banshees. It all lives up to the breezy, free-running, sometimes defiantly-standing animals of the title.
Wild Horse Nine’s bitingly dark humour surrounds a well-observed look at mortality and aging in Martin McDonagh’s brilliantly written characters, brought to life by two punchily tender performances from Malkovich and Rockwell.
