Customer Reviews

Seraphim Falls

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

Remember when Westerns held nothing back? When the characters were REAL, when the dangers were REAL, when you were pressed to the edge of your seat waiting for the next harrowing moments? "Seraphim Falls" is a movie in this tradition, featuring brilliant acting, great cinematography, and super writing.

Gideon, a former Union captain, has headed out west, alone. The war is three-years gone; he is a wanderer escaping his brutal past. But he is pursued by Carver, a former Confederate general who has a grudge against Gideon. What follows is a chase, of sorts--one man pursuing another through the wilderness, approaching a conclusion that, although predictable, is still strangely satisfying.

Pierce Brosnan, as Gideon, gives his the performance of his career, even topping his previous high in "The Matador." Liam Neeson is engaging as always; you can't take your eyes off him. A super cast, featuring a supporting role from the ever-rivetting Michael Wincott, as well as excellent cameos from other artists, helps keep this movie grounded. The writing is great--dialogue is sparse and never used simply as filler; the violence is real but never gratuitous--and the cinematography is to die for. There's nothing extraordinary here, which is why the film soars--it takes pride in being a Western, in being a revenge story, and doesn't waste time in trying to be anything more. Sure, there are morals to learn from watching this movie, but director/writer David Von Ancken doesn't force them down your throat; he lets you ponder them at your own leasure, when you are finally able to take your eyes away from the screen. "Seraphim Falls" ranks as one of the most engrossing movies I've seen this year; it's easy to watch and hard to forget. To me, that's what makes a great movie.

"Seraphim Falls" works very well as a western because of the contrasting lead characters--Col. Carver (Neeson)obsessed with revenge trapped in the past and his own pain while Captain Gideon (Pierce Brosnan)wants nothing more than to escape his past. He isolates himself in the wilderness working as a trapper in post-Civil War America almost as if it's his penance for an act in the past. Gideon was instrumental in a horrible tragedy that killed Carver's family. Carver hunts Gideon like he's nothing more than a wily animal. Gideon plays the part proving that even though he has isolated himself from people, he hasn't forgotten or lost the small remains of his soul. Gideon rediscovers the value of life--any life even someone else who hates him while Carver discovers that the need for revenge can eat away our reason for living.

"Seraphim Falls" isn't a perfect film but it is one of the better westerns that has been released in some time (although it can't hold a candle to "Open Range"). Because director/writer David Von Ancken focuses on the demons that drive these men, his film is admirable and entertaining. Both actors working with a great supporting cast do a terrific job of creating their characters with a minimal of dialogue particularly during the first third of the film. While the film falls apart by the conclusion and runs about 15 minutes too long, it's still enjoyable ride through the high country.

The DVD features an interesting and trivia packed commentary track by Pierce Brosnan and writer/director Von Ancken aided by roduction designer Michael Hanan. We get the usual trivia about the difficulties in shooting the film but also bits of history as well that make it informative and fun.

The featurette provides a solid look behind-the-scenes. I was surprised that a film this low key (it barefuly got a theatrical release probably because of Mel Gibson's involvement and his drunken rant. Icon Productions co-produced the film and I don't doubt that it made Sony gun shy about promoting this film in a higher profile fashion). The DVD transfer looks nearly perfect.

"Seraphim Falls" recalls some of the character driven westerns that we saw during the 60's and 70's. Writer/director Von Ancken (who wrote it with Abby Everett Jaques)sketches in these characters worn lives and the deeds that made them weary of living very well. Both Brosnan and Neeson do terrific jobs in their roles making the most of their minimal dialogue creating much of their characters out of their physical actions and reactions as what they say. Like "The Proposition" (another fine Aussie western), "Seraphim Falls" shows us the price of war and following orders on the individual from both sides of the fence.

The Proposition

Pierce Brosnan, plays a rugged mountain man in which a group of bounty men are after. His character wants only to be left alone but continues to find himself in battle with opposition and with his own past. From start to finish this movie will keep you in suspense as the action will take you from one stunning cinematography mountain and country scene to the next. I will not give away the ending, but must say that it was a "class act" we should all follow.

"Seaphim Falls" is two films. The first part takes place in the mountains and savannahs and the second part takes place in the desert. Part 1 is a mystery. Liam Neeson and 4 other men are trying to kill trapper Pierce Brosnan. Everyone does a terrific job acting and the photography is stunning.

Part 2 is just plain silly. Wes Studi embarrasses himself as an existential Indian and Angelica Houston makes us forget that she actually won an Academy Award by playing a snake oil saleswoman from hell. Even the plot suffers in this half of the film (e.g., how do the hunters loose the bullets that are in their belts?)

There are some really good performances here by lots of people in little tiny roles. Shannon Zeller (the little girl who rescues Brosnan), Nate Mooney (the former soldier who recognizes Brosnan), Jimmi Simpson (the bank robber), Ed Lauter (the bounty hunter who is stranded), and Xander Berkeley (the railroad foreman) all stand out.

This film has been compared to "The Outlaw Josey Wales." NOT. Though both films deal with the aftermath of the Civil War, that's about the only similarities between the two films.

It's too bad this film didn't capitalize on the hunt sequences and the inherent mystery. When it deteriorates into the silly final third, it's really not worth watching.

This movie really deserves 10 stars! Awesome scenery and fantastic directing/writing. Gideon (Pierce Brosnan) is a formidable foe for Carver (Liam Neeson), a man seeking revenge three years after the Civil War. 'War is Hell' is an understatement in this story of two men with emotional scars from the war and everything it has taken from them struggling to just keep going. Unable to put their pasts behind, they take their hatred and anger out on one another. The intensity of the action is constant as Gideon runs for his life, adept at killing anyone intending harm if they get too close to him. Both men leave a trail of blood. How much will they spill before putting an end to their personal war?

Chrissy K. McVay - Author

Any film with an opening half hour as great as this may inevitably seem like a let down when it draws to a close. Still, this is the best new Western in years. Liam's accent is a little off, but Pierce delivers an outstanding, almost animalistic performance. This should have been a hit.

I knew nothing of this film but it looked interesting. I thought that it was not particularly memorable at first but on thinking about it the next day I realized that I was wrong.


The ending - an interpetation
SPOILER ALERT! . . .
The appearance of Angelica Huston in the middle of the desert really seemed utterly ridiculous until (the next day) I realized that she was the angle of death. She took everything they had (water, horses, life? etc.) and offered them the chance for revenge. The seemingly stupid moment when they get up and walk away (after barly able to walk and Liam shot) really is the death of both. It took a while but it made sense after a day, lol. In any event it was interesting (although a bit monotemous during the middle of the movie due to the largly uninteresting chase. BTW, how could Brosnan (on foot) stay ahead of Neeson on a horse for so long?). I would have given this a 3 star rating if I had not interpeted the ending the next day. In any event, it's interesting to think about and it's beautifully filmed.

This is an interesting and watchable movie, well acted and photographed.
It has a basic story line that strongly borrows from "The Outlaw Josey Wales", but the screenplay contains enough variations on the hunter vs. hunted theme to mark it as a different film from Eastwood's.

My only real complaint about it is that it begins strongly , in a realistic fashion, continues in this manner through most of its length, but then begins to unwind into something mystical and surreal as the end approaches. Basically, it starts to get weird. It's like the director decided to take a side trip through the Twilight Zone to reach his end credits.

It could be argued that the desert conclusion puts the two adversaries (Brosnan and Neeson) in a situation where the intense heat and lack of water makes them hallucinate and see and hear things wrongly: perceptions askew. Maybe. But the fact remains that from Wes Studi's appearance onward this movie starts going a bit wonky. And is the Angelica Huston character actually there at all? Is "she" real? Or is "she" the Devil? You almost feel the production is taking on a Rod Serling morality play form...wrapped in metaphor...there at the end.

"Seraphim Falls" left this reviewer largely unsatisfied with its ending. but mostly pleased with the 85% of it preceeding that.

Give it a shot. Its an entertaining enough effort.

***1/2

Written by Abby Everett Jaques and David Von Ancken and directed by Von Ancken, "Seraphim Falls" is a rough, tough, old-fashioned western set on the dusty plains and snow-covered mountains of western Nevada. The plot is little more than a straightforward revenge tale involving Liam Neeson (sans Southern accent) as a sadistic Rebel army colonel who hires a posse to track down the marauding Union officer he believes slaughtered his family in the days following the Civil War. The officer, played with steely-eyed determination by Pierce Brosnan, is a savvy, quick-on-the-draw survivalist who, through sheer ingenuity and skill, stymies and outwits the colonel and his men at every turn.

What "Seraphim Falls" lacks in substance, it more than makes up for in grit and style. For even though there isn't a great deal of depth to the characters, there's much pleasure to be derived from merely watching two actors of the caliber of Neeson and Brosnan squaring off in a grueling game of cat-and-mouse played out in a punishing, unforgiving landscape. Brosnan's character achieves an almost Superman-like quality as he stays one step ahead of his pursuers, devising ever-more elaborate means of ensnaring them in his traps. The movie takes a decidedly metaphysical turn in its closing stretches, with the divine Anjelica Huston, no less, appearing out of nowhere as a desert apparition to set the boys straight on a few eternal verities like redemption and forgiveness. But it is as a simple tale of vengeance and obsession that "Seraphim Falls" most captures our imagination and interest.

`Seraphim Falls' has all the elements of the archetypal Western you'd expect. If the movie didn't have any expletives and it weren't so keenly edited, you'd swear you were watching an old movie.

Taking place just after The Civil War, Confederate Col. Carver (Liam Neeson) has an ax to grind against his former rival, Union Officer Gideon (Pierce Brosnan). Taking a few men with him, he bears down on Gideon chasing him in the dead of winter through the unforgiving mountainous terrain of the West. With transgressions that only unfold later, the two men fiercely hold their own in a chase that both sides win on the merits of ingenuity alone. Encountering people one might expect: A log cabin family, Irish immigrants, an elixir saleswoman, and revival people; the results, nevertheless, are not.

One particularly distinctive scene shows Gideon frozen, bleeding, and out of breath. A departure from vintage Westerns, we really see his ordeal as he numbly, yet urgently builds a fire, removes a bullet, and cauterizes a wound that only leaves a trail of blood. It's done so believably that we can't help but feel his agony.

With great performances by both Neeson and Brosnan, 'Seraphim Falls' is one compelling Western ride. The palpable vengeance is convincing, and the chase brings considerable tension throughout. Even containing familiar elements, the variations are often done in a startlingly different way.