The Alternate Ending DVD Review: Seraphim Falls
Posted by Dave Tomlinson on 06.02.2007
Revenge is best served bitter cold... or blistering hot. Here we get both.
Sorry for my lateness this week gang. It’s been a busy couple of days, and of course it’s Season Finale Week. Oh and a little word to all of you haters who bailed on “Lost” this season, you can all kindly go play in traffic as they delivered probably the most satisfying finale yet. Seriously you totally missed out as they really returned to season 1 goodness in terms of story telling and plot twists. Now that I’m done with my little mini rant, on to the review…
Seraphim Falls
Film:
Generally, I’m not much for westerns. I can probably count on one hand the ones I’ve really enjoyed. And of those, really only “Tombstone” counts as a bona fide traditional western, while my tastes generally run to slants on the genre like Robert Rodriguez’s “Man with no name” trilogy (“El Mariaci”, “Desperado”, and “Once Upon a Time in Mexico”) or Joss Whedon’s space western “Serenity”. That being said, I remember being really intrigued by trailers I saw for “Seraphim Falls”, and was similarly disappointed to find out it’s limited release didn’t include the Detroit area. So of course when it finally showed up on Netflix I hastily moved it to the top of my queue. Thankfully in this instance I was not to be let down again.
“Falls” starts us off in the snow capped mountains of Utah just a few years after the end of the American Civil War. We see former Union officer Gideon (Pierce Brosnan) huddling over a fire desperate to keep warm, but also keenly aware, constantly looking over his shoulder for signs of trouble. He need not have looked, as trouble finds him quickly enough when an unseen gunman puts a round in his arm before hi high tails it out of his little camp leaving both his horse and his gun. Former Confederate officer Carver (Liam Neeson) and his posse storm in a few seconds later. While his cronies want to give chase, Carver just shrugs and tells them to “let him bleed a bit”. Why is Carver so vicious? Well I won’t spoil anything here, suffice it to say that Gideon and Carver share a particularly brutal past.
Eventually Carver and his crew do give chase as Gideon runs for his life… and perhaps a shot at some sort of redemption. Clearly both men are haunted by their experiences in the war between the states, but while Carvers fury is very focused on a single person, Gideon seems to be bearing his in a more general way. Gideon is painted somewhat sympathetically: pursued relentlessly, wounded and with no supplies. While Carver is so cold blooded he decides to shoot one of his men after he’s wounded, rather than attending to him. While neither man is entirely what he seems, they both come to grips with their own conscience, and in the end they really are both good men. The ultimate irony of course is that Gideon, so remorseful of his actions during the war, seems on the very verge of suicide, is given the will to live by Carvers’ obsessive pursuit.
The chase leads us from the bitter cold of the mountain tops to the blistering heat of the desert plains, and I really wish I could have seen this in the theatre as my little 27” TV really doesn’t do the scenery justice. The scenery isn’t the only thing that’s top notch as the performances turned in by Neeson and Brosnan are amazing. Neeson of course never fails to deliver, but I’m quickly becoming a big Pierce Brosnan fan as he’s really showed he’s more than just James Bond (don’t get me wrong, that’s a role he was born to play) with some great roles in “Falls” and “The Matador”. And I would really be remiss if I didn’t mention Angelica Huston’s cameo near the end as a Snake Oil salesman who may or may not be the devil attempting to relieve both men of their souls. Director David Von Ancken has worked primarily in TV before writing and directing “Falls” but lets hope he decides to stick with movies as he really delivers a great story here, with two men divided by the past, but really more alike than either would admit… which is kind of what the Civil War was all about.
Extras:
Commentary: A lone commentary with Von Ancken and Brosnan that’s pretty unremarkable.
Making of “Seraphim Falls”: Just like what it sounds like. A little half hour featurette about the shooting of the movie in New Mexico (the only place they could find all the locales they needed).
Tech Specs Video
As I said the scenery is breathtaking. I really wish I could have seen this on the big screen.
Audio
All aces here too with a good 5.1 mix. Despite this being an action movie there is a surprising amount of dialogue and its all crystal clear.
The 411: Even if you’re not much for westerns, you can still really get into this tale of revenge. Intense in a way that few films are, but oddly balanced with an air of surrealism near the end, add in a great story and some really good performances and you really get a great movie.
