'Wild Horse Nine' Review: Martin McDonagh Delivers One of His Finest Films
By Alex Gilston - October 10, 2026
A dying spy with a bad memory threatening to unknowingly leak official secrets- what could go wrong? In Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine, we get a pretty good idea. His latest comic caper keeps the spy work at arm's length as it inspects a life lived drowned in deceit, and the lengths that one might go to when staring down the barrel of mortality.
Wild Horse Nine is a sharp and witty entry into McDonagh’s deadpan oeuvre, and with stellar performances from John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell, it’s sure to go down as one of his best.
Set on Easter Island a few months before the Chilean coup of 1973, Wild Horse Nine travels with Chris (Malkovich) and Lee (Rockwell). They are both CIA agents who have been active in Chile trying to destabilise it’s government. But Chris is dying, and one of his final wishes is to go and see the Easter Island heads. So along with Lee he takes one final week to reckon with himself. However, when Chris begins to run his mouth about state secrets a task force of the CIA, led by MJ (Steve Buscemi), becomes hot on his heels.
Wild Horse Nine could be described as a spy film, but it really takes place after all their work is done. Chris and Lee are essentially holidaying on Easter Island when the walls start to close in on them. The surface context beautifully lays the foundation for what McDonagh explores. Ultimately, the film is about Chris and his inner turmoil looking back on his life. But his regrets, when inspecting the bigger picture, lay themselves intimately on the backdrop of Chile on the precipice of disaster - a disaster that Chris is involved in causing. In wrestling with the things he has done in the past he has to decide in real time if that's the legacy he wants to leave behind.
There would be no Chris without John Malkovich. It is a far cry from his cash-grab-esque cameo in The Hunger Games stage show; here he is firing on all cylinders. He takes Martin McDonagh’s crisp dialogue and delivers it effortlessly, but with a charm that is likeable to an insane degree. Chris is more than open with the atrocities he has either committed himself or helped to push along, but because of Malkovich, you cannot help but root for him. In a sea of expert line readings, there is one specifically involving cheese that, along with his hand gestures, should win him the Oscar alone.
Wild Horse Nine isn’t a one-man show, however, and Sam Rockwell acts as the chalk to Chris’s cheese as Lee. An ulterior motive takes Lee to Easter Island with Chris, and he quickly becomes his minder, having to shush him whenever he says something he shouldn’t, and stop him from taking too much morphine. It becomes a chore for Lee but Rockwell also exudes the complicated love he has for Chris, making for a beautiful friendship pairing not unlike a lot of McDonagh’s other efforts.
Wild Horse Nine firmly centres itself as one of Martin McDonagh’s best films. A story he has tried to get off the ground in various ways of the years finally benefits from the perfect framing. With an award worthy turn from Malkovich and a great supporting performance to boot from Rockwell Wild Horse Nine is a huge success.
'Wild Horse Nine' releases in cinemas on November 4, 2026.
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Alex Gilston
Senior Writer
Alex is a film critic, and self confessed Disney expert. His passion for film is huge, so to be able to write and talk about them is a personal dream of his.
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