On Swift Horses

A repressed movie about repression. The characters all have a certain emotional distance from each other, and I felt that the filmmaker had an emotional distance from the characters themselves.

A beautiful, empty mess of a movie.

Minahan has made a film about embracing life when you’re not legally allowed to, and he refuses to make watching it a misery, no matter how rough it gets.

For a movie whose core metaphor is about gambling, On Swift Horses rarely takes risks, sketching superficial characters that are more ideas than real people.

The acting is a saving grace, especially Edgar-Jones’ commitment to nuance and Poulter’s refreshingly shaded Lee, whose depth of awareness at a critical moment is a believable surprise, beautifully handled by the actor.

The film is too obsessed with surfaces to be particularly deep, but Daisy Edgar-Jones is especially good as a woman longing for something just out of her grasp and Will Poulter is a heartbreaking everyman.

Elordi smolders, Edgar-Jones stares and never the twain shall meet in a film that feels flat when it should be passionate, familiar when it should be dangerous and whose supporting players get better moments than their leads.

Despite its exuberant look and engaging performances, On Swift Horses having an overly steady pace and some undercooked character development puts it a hare away from greatness.

A film you sit with for a while after finishing it, On Swift Horses says as much with desire-filled glances and uncomfortable silences as it does with the words penned by screenwriter Bryce Kass.

Fails to deliver on the rich storytelling the opening moments promise of an old school Hollywood epic.