HOSTILES

Cert 15

Digital today, disc Monday Christian Bale’s intensity prevents this solidly handsome, yet creaking, Western from grinding to a halt.

The former Batman plays an exhausted shell of a cavalryman ordered to escort a Native American chief and his family from New Mexico to Montana.

They are long-time foes with unresolved grievances. Along with him is Rosamund Pike’s grief-stricken frontierswoman, who gives a demented dirt-scratching performance.

As they roll slowly through the epic landscape filled with admirably authentic production design and well-staged gunfights, the heavy-handed and humour-free script explores the violent history and ongoing economic and social division of the US.