With its linear, mission - centric plot and collection of archetypal characters, «Hostiles,» which Cooper adapted from an unproduced manuscript by the late screenwriter Donald E. Stewart («Missing»), bears more than passing resemblance to such towering John Ford classics as «Stagecoach» and «The Searchers,» an affinity underlined by the sweeping landscape and
kinetic action captured with keen sensitivity by cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi.
DP Dan Laustsen's work is a steely variant on the even - more - intensely stylized visuals he
captured for Crimson Peak, but more impressive is how rarely the
kinetic action calls in CG reinforcements.