Mr-Fusion
"Seraphim Falls" makes the most of its spare 20-minute opening, little more than an excuse to see Pierce Brosnan desperately fleeing Liam Neeson's nearing posse (honestly, the guy gets punished in all manner of ways, gunshot, wilderness, what-have-you). There's minimal dialogue, save for a few lines of Neeson's growl, which is cause enough to start running. The source of their shared acrimony is clearly established later on, but for a good half of the movie, it's an unfettered chase.And ultimately, it works, at least until the story starts winding down in the third act. By that point, the hatred's been clarified, some of the sadistic fun has gone and - one way or another - the conflict gets solved.It doesn't play like a conventional Western, and you could argue it's really an action movie. But not a bad one in either case.7/10
ruimsl
The name of the movie only starts to make sense past mid-point of the movie. Here we can see two men battling in a quest for revenge (a little misplaced, or not ?!?), after the end of the American Civil War.An allegory between heaven and hell – the beginning and the end of the movie, com be seen in the sets, portrayed by high winterly mountains and a scorching desert where the action unravels.In between, the hunter is losing its men, either by the hand or the hunted, or by greed - the perspective of easer money that the quest at hand. The last of the sidekicks, in a very good performance by Michael Wincott, get taken out by the ugly face the revenge at a hands grasp.We can see two great actors – Pierce Brosnan and Liam Neeson, portraying two soldiers, hardened by war and hardship, making their way into an ending which turns out to be a little weak, where we can see that the men aren't so hardened. Cowboys and soldiers also have good and just hearts.A final note to Angelica Houston playing a saleswoman, in the middle of the desert (??!!) trading with both men the means to make the revenge possible with justice (equal rights). Is she a representation for the devil itself? I think so ..., in a little twisted and just way.It's a very good movie with great landscapes and very worthwhile example of the long lost western.
FlashCallahan
five men have been tracking another across Nevada for more than two weeks. They shoot and wound him, but he gets away. They pursue, led by Darkman, who will pay them once he's captured. The hunted is Gideon, resourceful, skilled with a knife. Gideon's flight and Darkmans hunt require horses, water, and bullets. The course takes them past lone settlers, a wagon train, a rail crew, settlements, and an Indian philosopher. What is the reason for the hunt, what connects Gideon and Darkman, other than they are both ageing Irish action Icons?Brilliant from start to finish, Seraphim Falls has great acting from the two leads, and has some brilliant cinematography, which makes the film a little more intense.Aided by the wealth of additional characters, Berkeley as a railroad bigot, O' Conner as the family man, Noonan as a preacher, and finally Huston, who could be a devil incarnate, or some sort of reaper, as the two head toward purgatory.And this is why the film is interesting, are the two dead come the end? Have they died by the time they Meet Hustons character? And where do they vanish to, does one go to heaven, and the other to hell?Its visually brilliant, and although there is not a lot of action throughout, its taut and Von Acken has crafted a wonderful movie.
museumofdave
When I was in eighth grade, several of us got a 8mm camera and made a movie called "The Chase," which was mainly two of our friends in costume chasing one another around San Diego's Balboa Park. Seraphim Falls is a chase film, but it's filmed with beauty and precision in New Mexico, and thought the plot is equally simple, the character development and the allegorical overlay makes it, if perhaps a little long, a compelling old fashioned Western.Neeson and Brosnan, both Irish, play Civil War officers with bad blood between them, the reasons for which slowly unfold as one stalks the other--on the way, they encounter a railway being built, a religious cult plopped down in the desert, a lone native American in a top hat by an oasis--in other words, enough variety to keep the chase fascinating--and the music drives the plot along nicely, the grand sweep of the photography from mountain ranges to cracked desert floors a trip in itself. It's no masterpiece, but a solid, old-fashioned Western with a thematic update.
AD
