Wild Horse Nine is in theaters on Nov. 6.
Two killers head out on a not quite break-from-work trip to a picturesque location, where shenanigans ensue. I've seen that movie and it's called In Bruges, you might be saying. But In Bruges writer-director Martin McDonagh is far from playing the same Funny Games as Michael Haneke by making the same film twice, so while his new film Wild Horse Nine might put him in familiar territory, this is not just another In Bruges -- and we are all the better for it.
The Catholic guilt remains, but McDonagh trades the tortured hitmen of In Bruges for two CIA spooks who need a reprieve from setting up Augusto Pinochet's coup in early '70s Chile. So off they go for a quick breather from working to overthrow a democratically elected Marxist (the CIA can't have that, no. Definitely not in their own hemisphere!) to see the big heads on Easter Island.
What makes this film great is its ability to tackle heady subjects like political violence and CIA-backed regime change and yet still be funny as hell and a great hangout movie. It's a tough needle to thread, but Martin McDonagh does it without being insensitive to the real-world changes that are happening around his characters.
McDonagh is an excellent filmmaker, but he’s undoubtedly best at screenwriting. His dialogue is incredible. It can be absurd, funny, charming, mean, and insightful; most of the time, it can be all of those at once. I've been using some form of "You're a nice guy, Pádraic" as my preferred euphemism for calling people an idiot ever since I saw The Banshees of Inisherin. It's such a nice, pleasant veneer, but it's so cutting. And when I use it, most people don't realize I'm insulting them, just like Pádraic.
Wild Horse Nine is also chock-full of great zingers. Take the scene in the trailer, where Lee (Sam Rockwell) is trying to shush Chris (John Malkovich), who won't stop talking about all his political assassinations.
Chris snaps back, "I've killed people in countries you can't even spell," and then mentions that he killed a guy in Czechoslovakia.
"You never killed anyone in Czechosl-fucking-vakia. You just know I can't spell it," responds Lee.
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