Movies, Movies and uh…Movies

‘Seraphim Falls‘ starts with a Man (Pierce Brosnan) stoking a Fire. He looks around every now and then, and his Horse seems to be on edge. Then out of nowhere a couple of Bullets fly, and one strikes him in the arm. He runs from his attackers, a group of Men led by Liam Neeson. They set out on their way, hunting the Man. We know it’s personal, but as of yet we have no idea why.

So starts ‘Seraphim Falls‘, which joins ‘The Proposition‘ and ‘Open Range‘ as films that prove the Modern Western is far from Dead.

As Brosnan stays ahead of his hunters he begins a Journey through the Wild, vast landscapes of the American West. Starting with the Snowy Mountains, through the Plains and eventually, the melting hot Desert. And special mention should go out here to the Director (David Von Ancken) and the lush work of John Toll. Together they make you realise just how vast America was at that time. So much so that the breathtaking scenery becomes a character itself. It goes to show why travelling on Horseback (And in this day and age - by Car) was so appealing to some. A Man could genuinely lose himself out there, and I’m sure many have. But more than once I found myself wondering exactly how they know which way to travel without getting lost completely. So I commed their work for making it seem at once so beautiful and yet so overwhelming.

There is violence in the film, as to be expected. But don’t expect any ‘Rambo‘ like heroics here. The violence is presented matter of factly, and not once is it glamorised or made to look cool. Like a lot of recent revenge films, ‘Seraphim Falls‘ argues that the issue isn’t black and white, that as you become consumed by Revenge you become no better than what your chasing. Morally you lose your way, and as one character says “To take a life you have to give a life“.

I have to commend Von Ancken on the cast he put together for this thing. Special mention should go to the leads, and though Neeson always delivers the goods, this is Brosnan’s film. He’s able to do a hell of a lot with the most minimal of dialogue (It should be noted that it’s a very sparse script) and with a look or a glance you can tell what he’s thinking. With this and the massively underseen ‘The Matador’, Brosnan is coming into his own. I hope this run of form continues.

Aside from that you have a lot of recognisable faces, including Tom Noonan, Kevin J O’Connor, Micheal Wincott, Ed Lauter, Xander Berkley and showing up in the films final moments, Wes Studi and Anjelica Houston. It will be interesting to see what people make of the Houston and Studi’s characters, as it seems their presence gives the film a slight supernatural turn towards the end, but you can still argue that the interpretation is up to the viewer, and their roles remain ambiguous.

It’s a shame this film underperformed at the Box Office, but to be honest a film like this was never going to bring in big numbers. Here’s hoping that the home viewing market is kinder to the film, and proves that there’s still life in the Genre yet.

Hello everyone, I’ll just give a quick introduction. For the purposes of this blog I’ll be DrVenkman.
It’s a little sad I know but handles just sound so much cooler than using your real name.
I’ll be musing on random movies, some old and some new and with that I hope you enjoy reading!