Are you alright, Martin McDonagh?
Written and directed by McDonagh, Wild Horse Nine is set shortly before the 1973 Chilean coup as CIA agents Chris (John Malkovich) and Lee (Sam Rockwell) set out to Easter Island. Although they have their bureau chief, MJ (Steve Buscemi)’s blessing, the trip is marred with tension as Chris is dealing with health issues. As the two wrestle with their dark pasts amongst the island’s iconic statues, Chris forms a new friendship with two rebellious students (Marian di Girolamo and Ailin Salas) that may upend the serenity of their surroundings.
Admittedly, Wild Horse Nine feels like a very different project for McDonagh. As the director of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and The Banshees of Inisherin, McDonagh has become synonymous with films that are fueled by anger. Yet, with Wild Horse Nine, that furious rage within the storytelling is gone, replaced with a far more pensive and laid-back tone. While Three Billboards and Inisherin burned with flames of rage that threatened to consume everyone and everything around them, Wild Horse Nine feels more like staring into the fireplace with a snifter of brandy in your hand. Both experiences have value and, to some extent, urgency but the latter feels far more contemplative in nature.
As such, Horse Nine is a story that sits with its characters who are searching for meaning in a world that cares little for them. Lee is in a dead-end marriage, MJ is fighting for his corporate life, and Chris is trying to make sense of his past actions. For each one of them, the world is a place that feels random and cold.
Maybe that disconnect is what makes them better killers.
But, at the same time, that leaves them asking questions about what matters most. Through his philosophical inquests, Chris pushes Lee to see the more beautiful aspects of the world around him. While they both still seem lonely, the obvious affection between the two men buoys their time in Easter Island with warmth and care.
At a time of death, their care for one another gives them life.
And that relationship is what makes Wild Horse Nine so special. As Lee, Rockwell leans into the very best aspects of his Oscar-winning career. He’s charming, charismatic and often very funny. Yet there’s still a sadness beneath his eyes as he watches his friend deteriorate before him. In many ways, he feels like a son walking with his father as he begins to lose his faculties and Rockwell handles the character with a light touch.
John Malkovich in WILD HORSE NINE. Photo courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2026 Searchlight Pictures. All Rights Reserved.
Yet the standout here remains Malkovich. Though the actor has always been known for his quirkiness, Horse Nine gives him the opportunity to make these sensibilities to feel understandable. As Chris prepares for the inevitable loss to his battle with cancer, there’s a certain randomness to his behaviour that gives Malkovich freedom within this character. Musings about giant stone heads and the souls of dinosaurs are given greater meaning when you’re staring down the barrel of your own mortality, yet Malkovich gives his character a certain ease about his situation.
It’s not that he’s fine with everything that’s happening. It’s simply that he’s accepted the reality of his situation.
But Chris isn’t entirely sure what to do with his past. Determined to release his memoires, his voice recorder almost becomes a confessional. Every stream of consciousness thought becomes an opportunity for him to explore the moments of his life and the questions that have plagued him. He wants his life to matter, even if the world doesn’t know who he is. And Malkovich leans into these moments with grace, giving them more weight than expected.
Even so, as Chris recognizes that his time may be ending, there’s still time for revolution. There’s a recognition that the world is no longer his own but that doesn’t mean that he isn’t interested in seeing change. Through his conversations with the young women around him, he wants to pass on his desire to push for a better world.
He just knows he won’t’ be around to see it.
As such, there’s a certain beauty that’s inherent to McDonagh’s journey to Easter Island. While it doesn’t breathe fire like his previous efforts, Horse Nine’s playful tone about death and legacy becomes something of a quiet inquest into the soul. It’s almost unexpectedly sincere in a way that we haven’t seen from McDonagh in some time, making it a trip that virtually anyone will enjoy.
Wild Horse Nine is available in theatres on Friday, November 6th, 2026.
