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Wild Horse Nine, Martin McDonagh's new film, reviewed as funny and melancholy

Two reviews of Martin McDonagh's Wild Horse Nine, a black comedy about two CIA operatives on Easter Island in 1973, praise John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell. Both rate it a little below In Bruges and The Banshees of Inisherin.

2 outlets · 0L · 1C · 1R First reported Account updated
Image: Evening Standard
Image: City A.M.

1 / 2

The story, neutrally told

Mixed · 2Martin McDonagh's new film Wild Horse Nine was reviewed on 12 October 2026, with the Evening Standard covering it as part of the London Film Festival. Mixed · 2Set in 1973, it follows two CIA operatives, Chris (John Malkovich) and Lee (Sam Rockwell), who travel to Easter Island while a CIA coup against Chile's president Salvador Allende is being planned. Centre · 1The Standard says Chris is a weary operative with a terminal illness who has always wanted to see Easter Island, and that Lee goes partly out of empathy and partly to watch over him because their boss MJ (Steve Buscemi) fears Chris is giving away CIA secrets.

Mixed · 2Both reviews quote Chris telling tourists at the airport that they have come to destabilise a country, and both describe the film as bleak but very funny. Centre · 1The Standard's Hannah Pettit calls Malkovich 'on top form' and the pairing with Rockwell 'a fine pair', and says the film is one of McDonagh's most philosophical, reflecting on mortality against real political tragedy. Right · 1City A.M.'s Steve Dinneen gives it four stars out of five, calling it something like a mid-career retrospective of McDonagh's work, in which Malkovich and Rockwell take the places of Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell from In Bruges.

Mixed · 2Both critics rank it slightly below McDonagh's best: the Standard says it lacks the intimate warmth of The Banshees of Inisherin and the tragic bite of In Bruges, while City A.M. doubts it reaches the same highs as those two films.

Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.

Left0 outlets

No left outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.

Centre1 outlet

Framing
A festival review that leads with Malkovich's performance and the film's mix of profane black humour and mortality.
Emphasis
The two leads, the dialogue, and the film's philosophical weight set against the Chilean coup.
Leaves out or plays down
Gives no star rating and does not compare the film to McDonagh's wider body of work as a whole.
Charged language
“magnificent”“brilliant Steve Buscemi”
For example
“Malkovich is on top form as Chris” — Evening Standard
“one of McDonagh’s most philosophical works” — Evening Standard

Right1 outlet

Framing
A star-rated review that treats the film as McDonagh revisiting his own greatest hits, with In Bruges as the main comparison.
Emphasis
Echoes of earlier McDonagh films, the island landscape, the humour, and the acting.
Leaves out or plays down
Does not mention Steve Buscemi's role, the terminal illness or the London Film Festival.
Charged language
“near-perfect”“Elder Statesman era”“plays the hits”
For example
“Wild Horse Nine feels like a mid-career retrospective of his own filmography” — City A.M.
“Rockwell, meanwhile, appears unable to do much wrong these days” — City A.M.

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