John Malkovich gets his best role in two decades in "Wild Horse Nine," writer-director Martin McDonagh's darkly humorous tragicomedy about two CIA officers on a trip to Easter Island, which ends up being a thoughtful, contemplative rumination on death and dying.

Malkovich plays Chris Carlisle, a veteran CIA officer who's dying of cancer. Sam Rockwell plays Lee Chesterfield, Chris' protege, who's tasked with taking care of — and putting up with — Chris as he enters his final days.

The push-pull of their relationship makes up the bulk of their story, just as the relationship between Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell's characters did in both "In Bruges" and "The Banshees of Inisherin."

"Wild Horse Nine" is kind of like "The Banshees of Easter Island." Chris and Lee head off to the island off the coast of Chile shortly before the Chilean coup d'état of 1973, which the movie implies they put in motion. McDonagh has a ball playing with CIA conspiracies in the film; just wait 'til you hear the role Chris played in the assassination of JFK.

The Easter Island trip is both a getaway and a final destination of sorts. Chris has asked Lee to put him out of his misery as his cancer worsens, although whether Chris remembers asking Lee to take on that task is a question that is raised.

Meanwhile, Chris is collecting his thoughts and is thinking about publishing his memoirs, and MJ (Steve Buscemi), the pair's CIA bureau chief, isn't too keen on those memoirs coming out, given the sensitive information contained therein. He also wants to take Chris out before he can do any damage.

That's the plot engine, but "Wild Horse Nine" is mostly about the hang.

Chris and Lee have a back-and-forth of bickering banter, heavy on expletives, and a lot of the movie is them discussing their lives and the philosophies they've developed over the course of their careers. They get into debates about politics and religion and the nature of the soul, and McDonagh's pen is as sharp as ever as his characters discuss these weighty matters of existence.

Malkovich and Rockwell are dynamite together, and it's Rockwell who carries the heavier load, as his character is simultaneously enraptured by and exhausted with Malkovich's character.

It's a credit to McDonagh's writing that their relationship comes across as so authentic and so complex, and Rockwell does marvelous work letting viewers see and feel both his awe and his constant frustration with his partner-in-crime.

Rockwell already has a shorthand with McDonagh, having won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for McDonagh's "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" (Rockwell was also in the writer-director's "Seven Psychopaths") and there's a depth to Rockwell's work here that is enriched by his relationship to McDonagh's words. They're a great pair, and McDonagh brings Rockwell down to Earth and brings out the best in him.

Parker Posey is on board as Lee's wife, and Mariana di Girolamo and Ailín Salas play a couple of college students traveling in Chris and Lee's orbit. But "Wild Horse Nine" is mostly a showcase for Malkovich and Rockwell, who put on a masterclass in acting inside McDonagh's soulful screenplay. The movie serves as a reminder that life can be happy, sad, funny, painful, heavy, harsh and beautiful, all at the same time.

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'WILD HORSE NINE'

Grade: B+

MPA rating: R (for pervasive language, some strong violence, drug use and sexual references)

Running time: 1:56

How to watch: In theaters Nov. 6

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