“All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.”

          -Pierce Brosnan as Gideon

The Film

Three years have passed since the end of the Civil war, yet many of the men involved have found it hard to heal from the war’s wounds. One such man is Ex-Confederate Colonel Carver (Liam Neeson) who is desperately chasing Ex-Union Captain Gideon (Pierce Brosnan) across the untamed west in search of revenge. Carver follows Gideon through the mountains and across the plains, encountering a wide spectrum of standard western themed characters, from lonely homesteaders and wandering missionaries to bank robbers on the run and domesticated Native Americans who speak in riddles. Their path finally leads them to the desert, where during their final showdown they are forced to decided if revenge is worth it’s price now that the war is over.

Seraphim Falls finds itself riding the line between a thriller and a western, though the boxes description as an “unrelenting action thriller” is a bit of a stretch. The film is very slow, though I didn’t find that to be a problem. In fact, the long pace of the movie was a beautiful match to the vast visual scope of the movie. Shot all across New Mexico, the landscape of the American west is showcased almost as much as the story is. It makes sense for the movie to be slow considering the massive distance these two men travel in pursuit of each other. My problem comes in how anticlimactic the actual action is. We spend so long riding with these desperate men, one out for vengeance and one trying to survive, that we expect great action and conflict on the occasions that the finally catch up to each other. The action is not boring, but it never builds to the high points the film keeps leading us to believe it will achieve. The best scenes typically come from Gideon’s McGuiver-esque feats of survival. He builds traps using only his knife and the forest to pick off his pursuers one by one, and starts a fire in the snow-covered mountains using nothing more that two bullets. Both Brosnan and Neeson turn in strong, believable performances. The dialogues is sparse, which actually helps the movie as when they are speaking the lines tend to drift into very stereotypical western speak. (“I reckon” and “Much obliged” are heard far too frequently) During the first portion of the film, Brosnan even shows off his grunting chops by letting out every form of yelp, groan, and scream imaginable.

The other major problem I had is how most of the scenes seem to be non-sequiturs to each other. Carver and Gideon encounter a wide array of character and settings as they travel, but none of them see to have much bearing on where they have been or where they are going. The art direction and design for these scenes is pretty spectacular, most notably that of the railroad camp which could have passed for a set in even the highest budget Hollywood western, but the action that takes place in these scenes seems to be there more to break up the running that provide much deep meaning. The biggest frustration comes in the fact that we don’t even learn why Carver is seeking revenge until the very end of the movie. That kind of a reveal works fine in your standard thriller, but in a film that clocks in at just under 2 hours, most of that spent riding across the landscape, it would have been nice to know the character’s motivations earlier on.

The Extras

The DVD sticks to the standard issue set of extras. There is a behind the scenes documentary which was actually kind of interesting. There was a true sense of passion about the project from all of the cast and crew involved, and that translates well in their interviews about the making of the film. Obviously, both Brosnan and Neeson are featured prominently, and seem to speak very genuinely about their experiences on the film. The commentary is your normal cast and crew affair, with Brosnan joining writer/director David Von Ancken and production designer Michael Hanan to discuss the film. And of course it is all presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 sound at a 2.40:1 anamorphic aspect ratio.

The Verdict

Seraphim Falls has all the makings of a dull, confusing genre jumper. Slow plot, cliché dialogue, and scenes that don’t really connect, yet the movie pulls it out. I never found myself bored while watching it, and the visuals were often stunning. Neeson and Brosnan are both compelling, and its kind of fun to see two Irish lads play American cowboys with such vigor. I can understand why this didn’t take off as a theatrical success, though I think it may find a second life through DVD.