Writer/director Martin McDonagh’s darkly comic political drama Wild Horse Nine (B+) gives John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell two meaty roles as CIA officers who retreat to Easter Island after helping orchestrate Chile’s 1973 coup. When Malkovich’s terminally ill operative begins divulging incendiary secrets, the island refuge becomes a reckoning with mortality, complicity and regret and the setup for an increasingly volatile shakedown. Malkovich, back in a showcase worthy of his singular talents, is operating at the top of his game, while Rockwell proves an ideal sparring partner. Steve Buscemi, Tom Waits and Parker Posey are among the formidable performers enriching McDonagh’s eccentric ensemble. The humor can be blunt and conspicuously boomerish, and the screenplay remains talky, smart and bursting with furtive flourishes. Part assassin hangout comedy, part political confessional, the film gives its thoroughbreds plenty of room to run and could carry Malkovich all the way into the Oscars race.