Christian Bale, Rosamund Pike are prisoners of the plains in brooding Hostiles trailer

“Do you believe in the Lord, Joseph?” Rosamund Pike asks Christian Bale in the first teaser trailer for Scott Cooper’s Hostiles. “Yes, I do,” he responds. “But, he’s been blind to what’s been going on around here.”

What follows is a seemingly grim, tension-filled journey through the plains of the American West, as Bale (playing an army captain tasked with escorting a Cheyenne war chief and his family through treacherous territory), navigates the foreboding terrain, which has claimed the lives of many — with a body count to prove it.

“Understand this. When we lay our heads down out here, we’re all prisoners,” he continues, after footage of his companions in peril, burning cottages, and hand-to-hand combat flash onscreen.

Hostiles had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival over the weekend, where it received positive reviews from movie critics after debuting as part of a special tribute to Bale.

The Crazy Heart and Out of the Furnace director’s latest has yet to land a domestic distribution deal, so its Oscar chances are still up in the air pending a final release date. But it is scheduled to hit the Toronto International Film Festival in the days ahead. Watch the first trailer(v ia Deadline) for the film, which also stars Wes Studi, Jesse Plemons, Ben Foster, Rory Cochrane, and Q’orianka Kilcher, above.