Wild Horse Nine (2026) – Review

Quick Thoughts:

1. John Malkovich delivers an all-time performance.
2. Parker Posey!
3. The on-location shoot at Rapa Nui gives the film an authentic vibe. I love that director/writer Martin McDonagh loves shooting on-location.
4. Between Wild Horse Nine, Seven Psychopaths, and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Sam Rockwell and McDonagh have created a wonderful “numbers” trilogy.
5. Best 2026 usage of moths.
6. There’s a great bit about a sandwich.
7. You’ll learn a lot about global cheese production.
8. Fun research – While writing the screenplay, McDonagh wrote “GUILT” and “REGRET” at the top of page one. Makes sense.

John Malkovich makes everything better, and his performance in Wild Horse Nine is an absolute showstopper. He’s great in Being John Malkovich, Shadow of the Vampire, Red, Dangerous Liaisons, In the Line of Fire, Con Air, and Rounders, but he hits another gear in Wild Horse Nine. Director/writer Martin McDonagh and his screenplays draw out excellent performances from excellent actors, and he’s been on a roll with his last two films. The Banshees of Inisherin and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri received seven Academy Award nominations for acting, and early odds suggest Malkovich and Sam Rockwell are a lock. Wild Horse Nine is the total package with a crackling screenplay, on-location filming at Rapa Nui, Ben Davis cinematography, and dedicated work from Malkovich. He has stiff competition from Matt Damon (The Odyssey) and Andrew Scott (Elsinore), but it would be lovely to see him recognised for his thrilling work in Wild Horse Nine.

Wild Horse Nine focuses on a long-time CIA employee named Chris (John Malkovich) enjoying one last vacation with his friend/CIA partner Lee (Sam Rockwell) before his cancer-riddled body fails him. During their trip to Rapa Nui to see the “big heads,” Chris plans to record his memoir, which could prove disastrous for the CIA because he was in Dallas the day JFK was assassinated. Understandably, the secretive agency doesn’t want him to unleash state secrets, so the South American CIA bureau chief MJ (Steve Buscemi) tasks Lee with destroying Chris’s tape recordings.

With death on the horizon, and a morphine-addled brain, Chris worries that the 68 people he killed (and countless coup d’etats) will give him a one-way ticket to hell (McDonagh loves tackling religion). He also wonders if dinosaurs have souls and hopes rain doesn’t hurt the moths he rescues from his hotel room. Despite his morphine-caused memory issues, Chris is still hyper-observant, very dangerous, and suspicious of MJ, who may or may not be addicted to heroin. To prepare for the role, Malkovich and Rockwell rehearsed scenes endlessly, and their work paid off because their line readings feel organic and in the moment. In the hands of lesser-trained actors, McDonagh’s dialogue can come across as over-written and inorganic, but Malkovich, Rockwell, Parker Posey and Mariana di Girolamo ensure McDonagh another Oscar nomination.

Shooting for six weeks on Rapa Nui, the isolated island gave Sam Rockwell and John Malkovich plenty of time to mull over the script and devise a dynamic that plays well on andoff-screen. During a long-distance call between Lee and his wife Marge (Parker Posey), they stop sniping at each other to discuss Chris and his health issues. Mentioning John Malkovich’s character softens the conversation and gives the married couple a moment to empathise (and not scream at each other). It’s not often that you can have empathy for a CIA-spook who has murdered 68 people and destabilised many governments – but you do, because Malkovich is so good.

Wild Horse Nine is only the second film to shoot on Rapa Nui, and cinematographer Ben Davis(Layer Cake, Seven Psychopaths, The Banshees of Inisherin) frames the famous moai statues in gorgeous wide shots that give Rockwell and Malkovich time to walk among them while talking about cheese or moths. Davis shot with an Arri Alexa 35 digital cinema camera, and the footage was expertly graded to look like it was shot on Ektachrome, a popular film stock from the 1970s. Shooting on film on the isolated island was impractical, so it’s neat they shot on an Arri and relied on color grading to make it seem like it was shot in the 70s. A nice touch is the focus on the color red, which pops on Ektachrome and creates a unique colour palette on the lush green island.