Venice Film Festival 2026 – Wild Horse Nine ★★★★

Released: 6 November 2026

Director: Martin McDonagh

Starring: John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi, Parker Posey

With his sublimely hilarious In Bruges, writer/director Martin McDonagh set his stall out for his future films: irreverent, gloriously politically incorrect absurdist humour, bickering but deep male friendship, high art, low thinking, a weird thing about dwarfs and an ultimately tender take on life in very specific locations.

These ingredients have served him well since in award-winning fare such as Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri and The Banshees of Inisherin. He has also had a solid stable of actors and actresses to turn to, although he mixes it up with new additions too, to create memorable ensembles.

All these features are present and correct in his latest offering, Wild Horse Nine but with an added maturity and a moving reflection on death, legacy, loyalty set in the geopolitics of the 1970’s. The film has been billed as a black comedy, action thriller. It delivers what it says on the tin.

CIA officers Chris (John Malkovich) and Lee (Sam Rockwell) are dispatched to Rapa Nui, better known as Easter Island, by bureau chief, MJ (Steve Buscemi) shortly before the 1973 coup in Chile, against the elected President, Salvador Allende. Chris is Lee’s mentor and friend but the two men may have conflicting agendas as they, ostensibly, enjoy a trip amongst the famous ‘big head’ (Moai) statues on the island. They each have a history in the CIA of destabilising governments and assassinating anyone who gets in the way or has politics the agency doesn’t approve of.

Chris has terminal cancer and relies on morphine to get him through the day. He’s also working on a memoir about the coups and hit jobs he’s worked on throughout his career and the CIA bosses are just a little nervous about what classified information he might reveal in it. Chris is dying and wants to atone for what he has done in the past. He also doesn’t give a damn what dirty work secrets he spills to strangers, specifically two young rebel students (Mariana di Girolamo and Ailín Salas) he and Lee meet. Lee is tasked with both easing his mentor’s last days and acting on orders from his boss to keep a close eye on him and to act as may be required if he gets too out of line.

It seems odd to say that Malkovich is a revelation here. He’s one of the most versatile actors around and has been for five decades or so. Yet, the warmth, dignity, pathos, sly comedic touches he brings together in this hugely likeable performance does all seem revelatory. Malkovich has often been the actor version of a square peg trying to slot into a round hole while trying to maintain his squareness.

He was an unlikely choice for arch seducer Vicomte de Valmont in the 1988 film Dangerous Liaisons. Critics grumbled that he wasn’t good looking or charming enough to be irresistible to Glenn Close, Michelle Pfeiffer and Uma Thurman. But he made his poisonous, unprincipled Valmont unforgettable through an intelligent and forceful depiction of cunning seduction and cruel betrayal. Despite this success, however, he was never quite leading man material but also he was never quite just the oddball character actor support. In some ways he almost became a caricature of what people perceived him to be. After all, there is a film called Being John Malkovich in which a puppeteer discovers a portal that leads into the head of the man!

In Wild Horse Nine, he’s visibly older, carries the wisdoms learnt with age wearily and heavily but also just lets loose as the cantankerous Chris. There’s mischief in his red rimmed eyes as he says what he feels, gives away CIA secrets without a care and gleefully offends the young and the sanctimonious. He’s dying and simply doesn’t care anymore though his long forgotten humanity rises to the surface again and again.

It’s capturing the complexity of a dying man trying to atone for his sins while not giving a damn with every fibre of his being that will likely bring Malkovich multiple awards nominations during awards season. It’s too early to predict whether he will win big but if his peers think he’s paid his dues and needs his flowers, don’t be surprised to see him bounding up a few podiums to offer thanks to his agent, parents and God.

Going toe to toe with him is the always wonderful Sam Rockwell, who himself rode the awards train to a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Three Billboards, after years of being the overlooked ‘solid, never gives a bad performance actor who never wins awards.’

Rockwell is largely the straight man to Malkovich’s punchlines but he delivers a few zingers too and is essentially a co-lead although he’s likely to be pushed again in the Supporting category. Providing him stellar and very funny support are Steve Buscemi and Parker Posey as his hysterical, unfaithful ex wife. Depending on the competition, Martin McDonagh may be looking at Best Director nominations and certainly one as writer too.

While it doesn’t have the raw, unfiltered appeal of In Bruges or the compelling narrative of Three Billboards, Wild Horse Nine stands tall among McDonagh’s films.