Heartland Film Festival Movie Review: ‘Wild Horse Nine’

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Review by James Lindorf

Martin McDonagh has built a career on putting flawed people in beautiful, isolated places and letting them hurt each other in funny ways. “Wild Horse Nine” sends two of them to Rapa Nui, one of the most remote inhabited islands on Earth. This is his fifth feature, and he reunites with the team behind “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” and “The Banshees of Inisherin.” The film was shot on location on Easter Island, with a trip to Monument Valley for good measure. “Wild Horse Nine” opens wide November 6th through Searchlight Pictures.

Shortly before the 1973 Chilean coup, longtime CIA partners Chris (John Malkovich) and Lee (Sam Rockwell) travel from Santiago to Easter Island, where each has his own agenda. Their boss, MJ (Steve Buscemi), is keeping a watchful eye from the mainland. Chris tries his best to connect with Monica (Mariana di Girolamo) and Alicia (Ailín Salas), two rebellious students, and that bond threatens to send everyone’s trip sideways. The supporting cast includes Parker Posey as Lee’s wife, Marge, and Tom Waits as Chris’s brother, Jim.

Malkovich and Rockwell have great chemistry and banter. While Rockwell is very good and could land a supporting nomination or two, I expect Malkovich to take home hardware this award season. He is perfect as Chris, the CIA agent of chaos. You never know what he will say or do next, but he still has enough depth that you end up empathizing with him instead of hating him. He has so many one-liners and out-of-pocket moments that they blur together. Late in the movie there is a scene in a bar where he divulges secrets to the girls that will stick with you for its heaviness. On the other hand, his objectification of the Moai statues is a standout scene purely for its comedy.

Among the main supporting cast, Di Girolamo has a much larger presence than Salas. Monica is young, hopeful, and liberal, the exact opposite of Chris. Perhaps that is why he seems so insistent on interacting with her, even managing to form a connection for brief moments. When he tells her what she could be facing at home, we fear for her, even though we don’t know if he is telling the truth or describing the best or worst possible outcome of his mission depending on your POV. Posey is very sharp and funny as Marge, and the character has a lot going on but it is all about how it affects Lee. She is mostly there as a thorn rather than a fully realized person, which makes her the film’s most underserved character. Buscemi is good, and you can’t take your eyes off him when he is on screen, but he doesn’t have much to do until the climax. At the same time, Waits is here because someone wanted him to be. He adds a recognizable face for a certain age and not much else.

The film is a lot of fun, but it is built on three jokes: what shocking thing Chris will say next, Lee’s disaster of a marriage, and Chris making fun of their boss. The dialogue and the performances keep it fresh. The cinematography looks great 99% of the time and has a good vintage feel. In the other 1%, I found myself wondering if I was watching a green screen. The background just looked off. Maybe it was color-corrected too far, or it was a pickup shot, but it pulled my focus a few times. The music is good and consistent from beginning to end. Whether it is the score or the needle drops from the 70s, it pairs well with the story’s emotional beats.

If you are a McDonagh fan, this one lands right on par with his earlier work with a shifted focus. “The Banshees of Inisherin” was about isolation, loneliness, and the weight of societal expectations. This one is about government overreach, friendship, and the fear of aging and medical complications. The climax may not be high-octane, but it does have some action and a couple of twists while never losing the comedy. It runs a little longer than it needs to, and I hoped for something bigger than a personal story when the person at the center is helping overthrow a government. Anyone expecting a historically accurate docudrama will be disappointed, as the story is all adjacent to real events. Wild Horse Nine’ is for McDonagh fans and lovers of dark comedy, and I am both, which earns it a 4.5 out of 5.

Rating: R (Sexual References|Pervasive Language|Drug Use|Some Strong Violence)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Crime, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): November 6th, 2026, Wide
Runtime: 1h 58m
Director: Martin McDonagh
Producer: Graham Broadbent, Peter Czernin, Anita Overland, Martin McDonagh
Screenwriter: Martin McDonagh
Distributor: Searchlight Pictures
Production Co: Blueprint Pictures, Film4