Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 Blu-ray Movie Review

Saga frontier.

Kevin Costner's Horizon: An American Saga is an ambitious multi-part film series exploring the rugged American West and set during the time of the Civil War. No less than four chapters are planned in all; this three-hour first leg arrived in June, its follow-up is scheduled for a release later this year, a third chapter began principal photography several months ago, and the fourth and presumably final film is still in development. Despite its sadly lackluster performance at the box office, Horizon: Chapter 1 lays solid groundwork and its presence on home video and streaming platforms will hopefully build momentum as the months (years?) progress. Horizon may be a slow burn thus far but, like this promising first chapter, I've got a feeling that viewer patience will be rewarded even further with future installments.

Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

As usual, please see my review of the UHD edition for a general overview of Horizon: Part 1's base-level merits and appearance, which is of course native to 4K but have been capably downscaled to 1080p/SDR for this Blu-ray release. Given that this is a dual-layered disc with no extras, even at just over three hours Horizon: Part 1 comfortably fits with no flagrant compression artifacts to be seen aside from trace levels of posterization and very occasional signs of macro blocking, neither of which will be distracting or even noticeable in motion on smaller displays. Where this Blu-ray falls shorter -- and by that I mean in direct comparison to the UHD edition, not other Blu-rays -- is its color representation which isn't nearly as smoothly refined and dynamic due to the obvious lack of HDR. Contrast levels follow suit, holding steady on their own terms but often falling into unavoidably unnatural territory during low-lit and nighttime sequences, especially where vivid elements such as fire and sparse bright lights can't help but stick out like a sore thumb. It's not really in the neighborhood of black crush, but the inevitably lesser shadow detail might be confused for it. Either way, though, the highlights far outweigh the occasional speed bumps and, for all intents and purposes, this is a more than capable Blu-ray presentation that should please viewers with more modest home setups.

Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Please see my recent 4K review for details about the Dolby Atmos mix.

Optional subtitles, including English (SDH), are included during the main feature; some are forced player-generated English subs for translation purposes and thus unable to be turned off.

Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a keepcase with poster-themed artwork identical to the 4K edition; a Digital Copy is also included, but no slipcover. Somewhat shockingly, no bonus features are included with this release; they're not listed on the packaging either, despite being promised by the studio's press release in July. This is very disappointing and only makes me think that a future more all-inclusive collection may be in the works.

Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 is the decent first leg of a presumed four-part cinematic journey from director and co-writer Kevin Costner. His track record for Westerns over the last several decades has been quite good and this at least flirts with viewer expectations; future installments, and the increased depth than hopefully comes with them, may shift those expectations into "exceed" territory. For now, WB's separate 4K and Blu-ray editions have strong A/V merits but both are completely lacking in extras, which may cause budget minded-fans to avoid this in favor of a potentially more inclusive collection down the road. That said, fans and newcomers will at least be getting a great-looking and sounding three-hour film here, although the 4K UHD disc easily wins out for those set up for the format.