Reviewed by Stuart O'Connor
Stars Liam Neeson, Pierce Brosnan,
Michael Wincott, Anjelica Houston,
Angie Harmon, Ed Lauter
Written by David Von Ancken & Abby Everett Jaques
Certification UK 15 | US R
Runtime 112 minutes
Directed by David Von Ancken
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 (Neeson) has hired himself a posse (oh man, I love a good posse!) and set out to hunt down and kill Captain Gideon (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 Von Ancken.