Dances with Wolves (1990)

Dances With Wolves is a personal and artistic triumph for Costner as well as a box-office winner and hugely enjoyable epic. The critic singles out the affectionate and detailed portrayal of the Native American characters and their way of life for praise, while noting excessive sentiment in places.

The critic hails Costner's directorial debut as a stirring epic with a clear-eyed vision of the frontier and the Sioux, rich in character, action, and spectacle like the buffalo hunt. It singles out the authentic, lyrical photography and the film's engaging focus on character over mere spectacle.

The review praises Costner's assured directorial debut for bringing grace and feeling to the elegiac tale of a hero's discovery among the Sioux on the Dakota plains. It highlights the fresh style, John Barry's score, and the film's potential as a word-of-mouth hit despite its length.

Costner's directorial debut is a genuinely impressive epic Western with a sincere dramatic sweep and strong historical authenticity. It lacks some complexity and political sophistication, with sentimentalised Sioux and a two-dimensional hero, but remains hard to resist.

The review portrays the film as a bland, middle-of-the-road New Age social-studies lesson about a white man joining the superior Sioux culture, criticizing Costner as a bland megalomaniac who makes everything lightweight. It acknowledges some competence and the film's authentic vastness but finds it untroubled and not truly revisionist.

The critic finds the film a well-polished but generic example of epic Hollywood filmmaking that has not aged well and was overrated at the time of its Oscar wins. They single out the visual splendor and the buffalo hunt sequence as transcendent moments amid the lack of profundity.

The critic finds the film a competent and ambitious first directorial effort from Costner, with the story of a Union soldier integrating with the Sioux recalling literary classics like Robinson Crusoe. It praises the natural screen presence of Costner and the film's epic scope but notes it falls short of genius.

The critic calls Costner's three-hour subtitled Western a miraculous achievement that revives the exhausted genre with integrity and lack of pretension. He singles out the modest, convincing performance by Costner as Dunbar and the film's overall emotional authenticity.

The critic calls the film a bold and ambitious directorial debut that works well despite some narration and a preference for the shorter cut. They highlight its excellent photography, landscapes, and strong storytelling as standout achievements.