Wild Horse Nine Review: Career-Best John Malkovich Shines In Quintessential Martin McDonagh Movie [TIFF]

Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures Wild Horse Nine is a moving portrayal of loss and grief, with a striking number of thematic and narrative parallels to the best movie of McDonagh’s. Published Sep 11, 2026, 3:37 PM EDT George is a film critic and journalist with over nine years of experience in the entertainment industry. Beginning as the Co-Creator and Co-Editor of Star Wars Holocron, the most followed Star Wars fan account on Twitter/X, George went on to develop The HoloFiles, a movie and television-focused website with his brother and writing partner Josh. A member of the Hollywood Creative Alliance, Chicago Indie Critics, Online Film and Television Association, and the Internet Film Critic Society, George has covered major industry events as credentialed media, including D23, CinemaCon, SXSW, Fantastic Fest, Star Wars Celebration, Tribeca Festival, and more. He also regularly writes reviews and contributes articles to ScreenAnarchy, BRWC, Film Obsessive, TV Obsessive, and Under the Radar. George's work has been featured in various esteemed publications, including the BBC, Associated Press, Forbes, and The New York Times. Martin McDonagh has developed a signature brand of offbeat black humor over the past 20 years that has earned him well-deserved plaudits. The Irish filmmaker applies his morbid, borderline-offensive wit once again to Wild Horse Nine, a deeply moving portrayal of loss and grief with a striking number of thematic and narrative parallels to the best movie in McDonagh’s illustrious filmography. Making its Canadian premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Wild Horse Nine takes place in the early 1970s and follows Chris (John Malkovich) and Lee (Sam Rockwell), CIA agents who embark on a vacation to Easter Island ahead of the coup in Chile that will overthrow Salvador Allende. While looking out for “the big heads” Easter Island has to offer, Lee must reckon with Chris’ increasingly erratic behavior, his argumentative wife (Parker Posey), and intervention from their CIA boss (Steve Buscemi). Wild Horse Nine Delivers Just About Everything You Could Want From A Martin McDonagh Movie Anyone familiar with McDonagh’s filmography will know that In Bruges, the 2008 darkly comedic thriller starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, is arguably what catapulted him to stardom. Nearly 20 years after his breakout film, he engineers a movie that bears such a resemblance to In Bruges that it feels like an unofficial sequel, remake, or companion piece. Both Wild Horse Nine and In Bruges are buddy black comedies about morally corrupted men reckoning with their pasts. They feature McDonagh’s biting wit; approach an idyllic foreign land with melancholy; have a nasty, balding overseer lurking over them; and even feature a person of short stature in an unusually important symbolic role. The similarities between the two projects naturally invite comparison, which suggests that McDonagh doesn’t quite match the quality of his 2008 film. The humor isn’t quite as sharp, nor as consistently funny. The originality of storytelling isn’t quite there, and the emotions don’t hit quite as hard. Glaring parallels to In Bruges aside, Wild Horse Nine delivers exactly what one would want from a Martin McDonagh film. He once again showcases an unmatched ability to carefully plant seeds for jokes that take their time to blossom into uproarious laughs. The third act, in particular, offers incredible, subversive payoffs for a number of elements the prior two acts tease. And, like McDonagh’s best works, Wild Horse Nine couples its bizarre, at times offensive dialogue with poignant commentary on loss. In addition to his memory slipping further by the day, Malkovich’s character has a terminal illness; his days are numbered, and the trip to Easter Island may be his last adventure as a CIA agent. John Malkovich Delivers A Career-Best Performance In Wild Horse Nine Thanks to a never-better John Malkovich, Chris’ odyssey through cognitive impairment, remorse, spirituality, and impending death makes for exceedingly moving viewing. Malkovich is as unusual as he’s ever been, but adds layers of pain and regret to his eccentricity that render Chris the kind of likably unlikable character McDonagh is known for masterminding. As he grapples with the governments he has overthrown and people he has killed over the course of a lifelong career in the CIA, Chris appears to represent McDonagh’s perception of a remorseful United States government, looking back on its influence on 20th century politics with condemnation and compunction. Although Wild Horse Nine is firmly Malkovich’s film, the ever-reliable Sam Rockwell delivers yet another powerful, memorable performance. What Rockwell does with his eyes alone in the film is nothing short of extraordinary, and he brings such brotherly warmth and gut-wrenching heartbreak to the movie’s most critical scenes. Their pairing is the capstone on a collection of traits that make this vintage McDonagh: a melancholic portrait of loss, witty and mildly objectionable humor, and a picturesque backdrop to soak it all in. Wild Horse Nine screened at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival, and will release in US theaters on November 6. Release Date November 6, 2026 Runtime 118 Minutes Director Martin McDonagh Writers Martin McDonagh Producers Anita Overland, Graham Broadbent, Peter Czernin, Martin McDonagh Cast