After posting about the recent poster and trailer for Steven Spielberg’s upcoming historical epic War Horse, a reader messaged me, asking, “I didn’t like Black Beauty, so why would I like this?”
For all intensive purposes, the man was right—both movies do involve horses, after all—but my defense was simple: It’s Steven Spielberg.
People get on Spielberg’s case for skewing on the side of sentimentality, but frankly, I look to him for a sizable injection of inspiration and heartwarming drama—but you can never fully anticipate what the master director is capable of. He’s the man behind the impactful-but-sweet Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan, but he’s also the guy who made Munich. Don’t doubt his dark side and I imagine that underneath the new War Horse trailer’s powerful (horse)ride is a stark underbelly.
So rest assured that War Horse will be one to catch when it gallops on in to theaters. The movie, starring Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson, David Thewlis, Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumbrebatch and more arrives December 25.
