A Western short on dialogue and long on pomposity, is little more than an extended chase scene down a snow-filled mountaintop to a desert floor.
Seraphim Falls (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:19
Fresh:8
Rotten:11
Average Rating:5.3/10
Consensus: A brutal, slow-moving drama that unfolds among some great-looking scenery.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for violence and brief language.
Runtime: 1 hr 55 mins
Genre: Thriller, War, Theatrical Release, Violence, Revenge, Railroads
Theatrical Release:Jan 26, 2007 Limited
Box Office: $287,772
Synopsis: PIERCE BROSNAN and LIAM NEESON star in Seraphim Falls – An epic action thriller set against the backdrop of the American Civil War. Directed by David Von Ancken (The Shield, CSI) Seraphim Falls... PIERCE BROSNAN and LIAM NEESON star in Seraphim Falls – An epic action thriller set against the backdrop of the American Civil War. Directed by David Von Ancken (The Shield, CSI) Seraphim Falls is a visceral study of revenge and a bloody account of the aftermath of war. Combining the raw brutality of FIRST BLOOD with the mesmerizing savage beauty of COLD MOUNTAIN, this is a film that will leave audiences gasping, and on the edge of their seats. It's been five years since the end of the American Civil War. Somewhere deep within the snowy mountains of the American West a lone figure - Gideon (PIERCE BROSNAN) sits in front of a fire, lost in thought. Abruptly, he is pulled out of his reverie by the echo of a Henry rifle and a bullet puffing into the snow inches from his head. With no time to react another shot rings out. It connects with Gideon's shoulder and whips him to the ground. Instantly Gideon calculates his one chance of survival. To leave everything he owns and run for the cover of the nearby fir trees – his blood leaving a crimson trail in the snow… So begins the thrilling first act of SERAPHIM FALLS, and the final stage of Colonel Morsman Carver's (LIAM NEESON) terrible revenge - to hunt down and kill Gideon, no matter what it takes. There will be many men dead before these two meet face to face, and only then will Carver fully comprehend the full cost of his undertaking. Launched by a gunshot and propelled by rage, the relentless pursuit will take them both far from the comforts and codes of civilization and into the unforgiving wilderness. The emotional conclusion to this odyssey comes after a bloody climax in which both men are forced to confront their past and travel deep within the recesses of their souls. SERAPHIM FALLS - a taut action film, an epic chase and primal battle set in the mythic landscape of the West. [More]
Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Liam Neeson, Anjelica Huston, Angie Harmon
Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Liam Neeson, Anjelica Huston, Angie Harmon, Xander Berkeley, Ed Lauter, Tom Noonan, John Robinson, Robert Baker
Director: David Von Ancken
Director: David Von Ancken
Screenwriter: Abby Everett Jacques
Producer: Bruce Davey, David Flynn
Composer: Harry Gregson-Williams
Studio: IDP Distribution
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Reviews for Seraphim Falls
The technical revels are arresting, but Seraphim Falls is slow of motive and thin of plot -- a western that dies with its boots on.
Though the chase threatens to go on too long, the suspense remains high because we don’t know which man is the real villain, or if there’s a villain at all.
It is not a terrible movie -- its beginning holds a certain promise -- just, finally, an unengaging one.
The director, David Von Ancken, and his cinematographer, John Toll, do magical things with the ever-shifting light, and there are splendidly weird turns from Anjelica Huston as a snake-oil salesperson and Tom Noonan as a wagon-train Evangelist.
Seraphim Falls is a psychological drama with an intriguing ambiguity that challenges the viewer's loyalties and preconceived notions.
Von Ancken may have begun this by wanting to remember films like High Plains Drifter. But all he ends up doing is reminding us how much better they were.
... an entertaining Western with some earnest ideas about forgiveness, redemption and the loss of innocents.
... it moves along with minimalist efficiency before running out of gas during an overlong allegorical final section.
Seraphim Falls is a movie some will relish and others will find a bit anachronistic.
... Seraphim Falls keeps you in suspense with what will happen next: a good, old-fashioned storytelling virtue.
A handsome, old-fashioned western of few words and heavy meanings that unfolds with the sanctimonious grandeur of a biblical allegory.
You can, if you so choose, read the film as a lesson in the futility of violent conflict as a means toward a peaceful end. Or you can let it just wash over you, fast and pounding, like a waterfall.
[Neeson] and Brosnan are supremely well-matched foils, though I do wish that the filmmaker, David Von Ancken, had lent his sparsely mythic tale just a twinge of something...new.
Aside from spasms of brutal violence, however, there's nothing rousing or new here.
It's all very impressive looking, but this Civil War-era Western moves at a painstaking trickle.
Latest News for Seraphim Falls
April 28, 2007:
Trailer & Poster review ![]()
More...
January 26, 2007:
Another "Crown" for Brosnan
Pierce Brosnan took a detour into indie productions after hanging up his Bond tux and martini -- most recently in "The Matador" and "Seraphim Falls" -- but... More...
January 25, 2007:
Critical Consensus: "Smokin'" Not Hot, "Release" Hardly A Catch, "Epic" and "Chocolate" Not Screened
The first month of 2007 wraps up with four eclectic releases, featuring hitmen ("Smokin' Aces", starring Ryan Reynolds, Jeremy Piven, and a million other hip... More...
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