The Banshees of Inisherin director just topped himself, and John Malkovich has never been better
Martin McDonagh’s new dark comedy just bowed at the Venice Film Festival, and early buzz hints he’s outdone himself — but is Wild Horse Nine really that good?
Venice just got another dose of Martin McDonagh. His new one – Wild Horse Nine – had its world premiere on 3 September 2026, and the early reviews are already stacking up, most of them bordering on rapturous. This is McDonagh’s first outing since The Banshees of Inisherin, and to listen to the festival lot, you’d think he’s outdone himself. Big words, considering his track record.
Wild Horse Nine made its debut at the 2026 Venice Film Festival on 3 September.
Malkovich in the Spotlight
The cast is properly stacked – John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell headlining as CIA operatives in 1970s Chile with all the cynical, blacker-than-black humour you’d expect from a McDonagh film. But the biggest noise at Venice is over Malkovich himself. His performance? A full-blown awards conversation, if Twitter is anything to go by (and these days, it often is, for better or worse).
Critics like Erik Anderson are already making bold proclamations online. In a post on X, he called it ‘probably Martin McDonagh’s best film’ and rated Malkovich’s work as one of his all-time greats. Kristopher Tapley piled on as well, ‘adoring’ the film and saying the actor ‘truly might’ have turned in his best ever performance. There are those already slotting Malkovich among this year’s prime awards contenders – the same air as the likes of Matt Damon and Tom Cruise, apparently. Never thought I’d see Cruise and Malkovich in the same sentence, but there we are.
Here’s how AwardsWatch’s Erik Anderson put it online: ‘Probably Martin McDonagh’s best film. One of John Malkovich’s best ever performances. Cynical and sad but funny as hell. Cast is uniformly excellent.’
The Set-up
So, what exactly is Wild Horse Nine? McDonagh’s written and directed the film himself, setting this one on the brink of the 1973 Chilean coup – not your average backdrop for a comedy, but that’s McDonagh for you. Malkovich and Rockwell play Chris and Lee, two CIA agents dispatched from Santiago to Easter Island by their sceptical boss MJ. Naturally, the gig spirals into chaos, dredging up all manner of old wounds and fresh paranoia, and embroiling them in new conspiracies. For an added complication, Chris strikes up an unlikely rapport with two student firebrands played by Mariana Di Girolamo and Ailín Salas, which throws the mission into even deeper trouble.
The Team Behind It
The supporting cast doesn’t exactly let up either: Steve Buscemi, Tom Waits, Parker Posey, and those aforementioned students round out a line-up any director would kill for. Cinematography is by Ben Davis, who knows a thing or two about making this kind of material pop, and the score comes courtesy of Carter Burwell, McDonagh’s regular collaborator. The film lands in UK cinemas (and everywhere else) on 6 November 2026, so it won’t be long before it’s not just the festival crowd weighing in.