The Salvation (2015)

Great Film overall

An Exercise In Nonsense

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The best first thing you can say about this flick is that it's good old, down-home, operatic storytelling and character development.After that, it's icing on the cake. The production values are fantastic, and the direction and acting is spot-on.If you find western revenge dramas to be your thing, definitely check this one out.

The genre of the western has been slowly dying over the years but I had some interest in seeing the salvation and this film is just pretty forgettable which is a shame. The premise of this film is after a man has his family taken away from him he goes on the hunt for those responsible. Mads mikkelsson is the lead in this film and he does a really good job, he gives a subdued performance but one that you can tell has the anger and emotion in it to make you root for him in this film. Jeffrey dean Morgan plays the villain in this film and he does a good job, he is a pretty cliché villain but he manages to add some of his charisma to the role which makes him entertaining to watch. Eva green plays a mute character in this film and I never really cared about her in this film, I struggle sometimes with mute characters to connect with them and I think this was one of the problems with green here. All the other characters are paper thin in this film and it is hard to really Care about them in this film. The story is a simple revenge story and when it focuses on that it does work like most films of this sort do. Its when this film tries to focus on other things that it falls down as you really won't care about it. The script is really poor in this film, there is nothing here that stands out or does a good job at making you care about the dramatic scenes and there is no humour to be seen here. The style of this film is very much a straight up western here and some of the action scenes are pretty cool. But this film feels really short and I do feel like this film could have done with being a little longer to help flesh out some of the motivations of some of the characters in the film. Overall this is a film that is just there, it isn't bad but it isn't good so it probably isn't worth a watch.

Bought this DVD as I fancied a decent western, especially one that had been labelled as gritty. Unfortunately the reviews failed to mention that the script only extended to about 5 pages, the accompanying music was handled with the subtlety of a deaf child and the whole look of this borefest was that of a TV movie with it's woefully cheap CGI rendered fire and patched in monument Valley backgrounds. I'm all for moody films but spend a little coin on some originality rather than assuming that decent actors on the billing can make a good film just by their very presence. It really couldn't have been more clichéd, more predictable or more tedious than had it been on the True Movies channel. What a literal waste of a couple of hours on an afternoon.

It does not necessarily have to be a western...I just love any really good and well made movie whatever the genre...but I feel compelled to write a review of this movie in particular...The first time I watched it I was well pleased with it...although I was initially dismayed by the opening dialogue, which was foreign(Danish?)...but because it seemed so well shot and the scenery was so well devised, I decided I would watch it even if there wasn't a word of English in it...There was a definite sense of quality right from the getgo..and I felt even if I did not understand a word, the action would pretty much tell the story, being a western and all...Well, I was glad I stuck with it, because about 5-10 minutes in, everyone began speaking in English which was a relief....However, it was the second time watching the movie about a month later that it finally became clear just what a fine piece of work this film really is..It is all there...everything you want in a memorable movie...just the kind of effort that makes you want to watch it multiple times, because each time you find something else you did not notice the time before...One thing that really impressed me about it was the wonderful music..a plaintive Spanish guitar riffing most of the time with very tasteful violins in the background...really excellent music score...and the obvious spaghetti western influence was also there..but done tastefully and sparingly..not heavyhanded at all....ALL the characters were topflight and the dialogue and screenplay NEVER insults your intelligence...Everything was done tastefully and just the way you would want it from a historical perspective...just the right amount of dirt on everyone's face, just the right macho countenance from the actors, all the right accoutrements and firearms...all perfectly done.I am looking forward to the next viewing in perhaps another few months from now...I am sure I will find even more to be pleased about...These type of high quality movies are FEW and FAR BETWEEN these days, and I intend to savor each and every viewing in the future..