Seraphim Falls Details

Classic western

Seraphim Falls is a tough film to categorise. At its heart it's a revenge drama. It's also a taut psychological thriller. And a western. And a chase drama. But most importantly, it's a damn fine movie with a very powerful anti-war message. Here we have a couple of Irishmen playing Americans in the Old West, just after the US Civil War. They're involved in a brutal cat-and-mouse game — Colonel Carver (Liam Neeson) has hired himself a posse (oh man, I love a good posse!) and set out to hunt down and kill Captain Gideon (Pierce Brosnan). They both fought on different sides in the war — Carver the South, Gideon the North — but there's more behind Carver's lust for revenge than that.

The film is sparse on dialogue and big on location — the chase begins in the deep snow of the mountains, and by the end the two men find themselves on the dried-up bed of a salt lake. At first we find ourselves empathising wth the man being hunted; we don't know what he's done, or why Carver is so driven by hate. But as the film progresses and more is revealed (and Gideon ruthlessly despatches the posse one by one), we find our allegiance switched. Neeson and Brosnan put in gripping performances — it's the first western for both — and interest doesn't wane for a second. Overall, a terrific debut film from director David Von Ancken.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Bizarre

Awesome start, absolutely brilliant. edgy and interesting really tense and then after they catch up with each other the director did a load of acid or something and the end is very random

Shame