The Salvation

Maybe it takes Danes to do a really good Western these days? American westerns seems to be all about softer things now, while this movie was tough and, in part, quite brutal. They even killed a kid in it, which sort of never happens in American movies.

Mads Mikkelsen delivers as always. His stone face is made for this sort of thing (Clint Eastwood, anyone?). Jeffrey Dean Morgan did a good job as the bad guy and Eva Green was really cool as a mute and strong woman.

The Swedish feminist newspapers hated this movie because it was about two strong men, the brothers. I for one can't see what they were complaining about, given Green's role. And in any case, even if Green wasn't there: Why can't a movie be about two strong men?

"The Salvation" drew my curiosity for two things: the lead and the fact that it's a Danish western.

The atmosphere of the wild-west is really well done and has immersed me in the mid 1800's, and with a well-paced narrative and suspense of a typical revenge-story told effectively.

Mads Mikkelsen shines as the lead but the overall cast is good. Compliments to the screenwriter, too, for creating several characters that I would wish to see more of.

However, what stops me from giving "The Salvation" an 8 or more is the ending, the very final scene. For me, it feels out of place, fake- looking and preachy. It's funny how less than a minute of a scenery- footage can lessen the quality of the entire story.

If you like Open Range, 3:10 to Yuma, True Grit and Unforgiven, you should certainly check this movie out.

this is probably one of the best western in years. It's a dark and harrowing film, a la "the proposition" or "unforgiven". This movie is not for the squeamish: innocent people are killed without a thought, and the film does a good job portraying the lawlessness and "anything goes" ethos of the times. Mads Mikkelsen is excellent as a hardworking taciturn Danish immigrant who's spent years trying to make a living in this land of opportunity. Unfortunately, tragedy strikes when he brings his family to the country, and then the rest of the film is basically about survival and revenge. At 1.5 hours, the pacing is good, and there are no unnecessary scenes or fat bogging down the story. Action scenes are realistic and very well done, and there's some pretty good cinematography throughout. All in all, a very well crafted and entertaining Western!

The classic western story has been done again and again, a thousand times over. A hero is wronged, he seeks revenge, gunfights ensue, retribution is attained. It's a classic formula, and fuels countless films in the genre, even today. The tricky part is, getting all the elements right. The story is a blueprint, and all other aspects must be implemented skillfully for that blueprint to result in a worthwhile finished product. The Salvation gathers a wicked cast, a beautifully twangy, reminiscent soundtrack that brings a nostalgic tear to the eye, and stunning, drone and crane centred camera work to weave us a tale that kept me enraptured from start to finish. I haven't seen a western this gorgeously rendered since John Hillcoat's The Proposition, or as unforgiving and tragic on that note. Mads Mikkelsen stoically plays Jon, a Danish immigrant in the dust haven of America's west. Mikkelsen is an actor who can say more with two seconds of silent, eye twitching screen time than eight hundred pages of dialogue, making him the perfect fit for a tortured western protagonist. On the first day he is reunited with his wife and ten year old son, they are slaughtered by evil outlaws (an opening sequence of heart wrenching dread that will leave you with a dry mouth) prompting him to take swift revenge. They happened to be affiliated with the biggest, baddest gang boss gunslinger in the region, played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. I've been waiting for Morgan to get a role worth his talent since Watchmen, and he takes full advantage of his ruthless prick character, injecting every moment with malice. The two are pitted against each other in a hard bitten, economically dry town with a bitter atmosphere appropriate to the depressing nature of the story. Caught between is mute Eva Green as Princess, a prisoner of Morgan's clan and survivor of maiming in her youth, at the hands of natives. Green has no dialogue, but can fill a scene with thunderous, glowering presence, and is one of my favourite actresses working today. All the elements mix perfectly, from story, which is standard but given new vital signs by the lush production design, acting and especially the score, a sadly meandering rhapsody that prompts dreams of tumbleweeds, tragedy and hard men doing bad things in the name of revenge.

By the Danish, and why not? Especially if it's done as well as this was/is. Mads Mikkelsen has proved himself worthy of leading roles even in (his not native tongue) English. But there is a bit of Danish thrown into the mix with this. But it's not the spoken language that will get your attention with this movie.

It's the framing, it's the "picture" language it speaks. This looks as down and dirty as Westerns come and it does a really good job throwing us into a situation Western fans know very well. So while the story itself is not new, we do get a very well made movie, that you should be able to enjoy a lot.