Wild Horse Nine review: Brilliant John Malkovich gives his best performance in years

Running time: 118 minutes.Rated R (pervasive language, some strong violence, drug use and sexual references).

In theaters Nov.6.It’s shocking that, up till now, John Malkovich had never appeared in a Martin McDonagh movie before. Granted, the Brit has only directed five and the casts are often small.

But the two men share such similar sensibilities: total-eclipse-dark humor, a confrontational style, proud peculiarity and a kind of macho intellect.They’d probably match on some terrifying dating app.And so, it’s not surprising at all that Malkovich is simply impeccable in McDonagh’s “Wild Horse Nine,” which played to loud laughs on Monday at the Toronto International Film Festival.  Whether his brazenly offensive CIA agent character Chris is giving a speech about what the quality of a country’s cheese means, or is hinting that he was somehow involved in the assassination of John F.

Kennedy, Malkovich is mesmeric and livewire unpredictable. You have to go back many years to find a performance from the “Of Mice and Men” star that’s so rich and blistering. Chris’ ranting and riffing almost comes across as the actor’s own stream-of-consciousness musings, so perfect the pairing of Malkovich and McDonagh is.  And that’s not the only ideal duo.His CIA colleague is Lee, played by Sam Rockwell, who’s already on his third McDonagh film and also starred in the writer’s Broadway play “A Behanding in Spokane.” Abrasive as ever, Rockwell is Malkovich’s partner in crank.  It’s 1973, and they’re stationed in Santiago, Chile, which is about to endure a political coup d’état with the help of the US government. “How do you like your president? Your new left-wing president?,” Chris says as he casually interrogates two women at the airport as they’re all about to fly to Easter Island.Young and fond of marching on the street, the ladies naturally like Salvador Allende quite a lot.“Well, enjoy him while you can.”The Septembe...