Seraphim Falls

Plot synopsis:
In 1868, within the Ruby Mountains, Gideon (Pierce Brosnan) roasts hare over an open fire. Suddenly, gunshots ring out with one striking his left arm. He grabs what he can and races down the mountain. His attackers emerge from their cover to inspect his campsite. Colonel Morsman Carver (Liam Neeson), a former Confederate officer, is accompanied by Pope (Robert Baker), Hayes (Michael Wincott), Parsons (Ed Lauter) and the Kid (John Robinson); who are all engaged in a bounty operation to apprehend him.
After removing the bullet from his arm with his hunting knife at a secluded locale, Gideon leaves an open fire burning, which attracts the posse. He ends up killing Pope with his knife and then ventures out again into the wilderness. He attempts to steal a horse, but is caught by a young woman named Charlotte (Shannon Zeller) who helps him after she realizes he is injured. She redresses his wound and her family lets him sleep overnight in their farmhouse. He later offers to buy their horse and leaves before daybreak. As the group of men approach Gideon's trail, he lays an ambush using a bear trap which impales the Kid, who is then shot by Carver as an act of mercy. Later, Parsons decides to leave the other men following the discovery of a dead bank robber (James Jordan), whom Gideon had killed earlier in an act of self-defense and whose bounty money exceeds Gideon's. As Parsons is preparing to load the dead body to take to Carson City for the reward money, Carver shoots the horse - which he declares is his, leaving Parsons to walk the 30 miles back to town carrying the body.
Encountering a railroad under construction, Gideon hitches his horse and steals some food. The foreman recognizes the stolen horse and detains Gideon. Carver and his remaining man, Hayes, come upon the railroad site and search for Gideon. Meanwhile, Gideon escapes from custody and makes off with another horse. As Carver and Hayes draw closer, Gideon's horse can no longer take the strain of the heat and collapses. Gideon euthanizes the horse with his knife. When Carver and Hayes finally reach the horse's carcass, Hayes dismounts and marvels at what type of an animal would disembowel the creature. Suddenly, Gideon leaps out from the horse's belly, where he had been hiding, and grabs Hayes threatening to kill him if Carver doesn't give up his gun. Carver instead shoots Hayes with his last bullet. Confronting each other, Carver and Gideon recall the events that put them at odds. After the end of the American Civil War, Gideon was ordered to track down former Confederate officers. When he arrived at Carver's home in Seraphim Falls to interrogate him, Carver was out in a nearby field. To coerce Carver's wife (Angie Harmon) into revealing his whereabouts, and believing that their house was empty, Gideon ordered their barn to be set on fire. The blaze quickly spread to the house, as Carver returned from the cropland. While the soldiers restrained him, his wife and son ran inside the house to save their infant child who was still in a bedroom. Both men look on with horror at the unfolding tragedy; trapped by the flames, Carver's wife and children perish. Gideon, racked with guilt over the tragedy, is seen dropping his gunbelt and walking away from his men.
The two men fight, Gideon eventually getting the better of Carver. He points Carver in the direction of a town and tells him that he will get nothing but torment if he continues his pursuit. Gideon takes the horses ridden by Carver and Hayes and sets off deeper into the countryside. When Carver later catches up with Gideon, both men are on the brink of exhaustion. They confront each other again with their pistols. Gideon shoots Carver in the side but, instead of finishing him off, he offers himself to Carver. Carver decides not to shoot him and throws his pistol aside. Gideon helps Carver to his feet and the two men walk into the distance away from one another. In a final scene, Gideon takes his knife, which he has used throughout the film, and throws it into the ground.
Notable similarities have been found between the film and the 1976 revisionist western, The Outlaw Josey Wales directed by Clint Eastwood.

Tags: murder, cult, violence, flashback, psychedelic, revenge

Review:
The tragedy is that it's going to be picked up primarily by fans of westerns, who are looking for shootouts and plots that can be boiled down to "good guys" and "bad guys." Do not go into this movie expecting that.This is ultimately a revenge story, but not a straightforward or clean-cut one; in this way I would compare it to "Memento" and "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada".It's not clear who we're "supposed" to sympathize with at the beginning.
Not something that your average Western viewer is likely to accept or appreciate.Viewers will come to this film expecting a completely realist story; and that's what they seem to be getting at the beginning of the movie.
The viewer is not prepared for this realism to slowly and obscurely fall apart - and while that may be the reason that the film creates such a powerful and somehow creepy experience by the end, the same factor is likely to leave most viewers feeling robbed.Ultimately this film is definitely worth watching, but may not have enduring appeal to lovers of the traditional Western genre.
Thank goodness there are still directors that believe in having movies being filmed this way!While the story grabs your attention from the very beginning and moves quickly, it takes its time in revealing who the characters are, and what are their motivations and the demons they are dealing with.If you watch this with a preconceived notion of what a western should be, a la John Ford, Howard Hawks, etc.
The plot is little more than a straightforward revenge tale involving Liam Neeson (sans Southern accent) as a sadistic Rebel army colonel who hires a posse to track down the marauding Union officer he believes slaughtered his family in the days following the Civil War. The officer, played with steely-eyed determination by Pierce Brosnan, is a savvy, quick-on-the-draw survivalist who, through sheer ingenuity and skill, stymies and outwits the colonel and his men at every turn.What "Seraphim Falls" lacks in substance, it more than makes up for in grit and style.
For even though there isn't a great deal of depth to the characters, there's much pleasure to be derived from merely watching two actors of the caliber of Neeson and Brosnan squaring off in a grueling game of cat-and-mouse played out in a punishing, unforgiving landscape.
There is very little story to relate: Carver (Liam Neeson) with a small posse of bounty hunters (Michael Wincott, Ed Lauter, John Robinson and Robert Baker) treks Gideon (Pierce Brosnan) through snow, forests, mountains, rough water, and desert over a Civil Ear seed of hate.
The 'story' fades to a philosophical stance (somewhat clumsily) by the intervention of some ghostly creatures (Anjelica Huston, et al) and ends without much more than a whisper of a memory about the futility of revenge.Bronson and Neeson do well with their scant dialogue, revealing more of their character's minds with physical action and the power of facial expressions.
Liam Neeson as Carver is hunting Gideon (Pierce Brosnan) through the wilderness of the old west, in this minimalistic western that takes place a little after the Civil War. Very well acted by all involved, and I found myself enjoying it quite a lot.
At 2 hours, the film hardly feels it and is seems like a fast watch, never wearing out it's welcome (although coming close to it around the end due to the cameos of Angela Huston and Wes Studi, both parts felt forced and didn't jibe with the film in any way) Aside from that, if you're a fan of the Western genre, you'll find much to enjoy in this one.
A film of epic dimensions magnificently filmed in the grand Western tradition, Seraphim Falls combines breathtaking action with fine acting by Pierce Brosnan and Liam Neeson.
With this film you have to take your hat of for Mr. Brosnan he is great in his acting, This is a movie that will remain as one of the greatest western films of all times and some sequences of this film will be remembered for ever I will not tell anything but if you see it(and you must) you will remember this.It is beautifully shot and has a solid script, great action and deep emotions mixed along the way.
If you like western you will not be disappointed.When you watch Seraphim Falls you will have your emotions mixed as the movie develops and when the fantastic finale arrives you will be even more pleased.
David Von Ancken's Seraphim Falls is Liam Neeson and Pierce Brosnan at their grizzled, violent, moody best, in a phenomenal western that went inexplicably overlooked back in 2006.
Seraphim Falls casts two actor whom you would not associate with the western genre as a couple of bitter enemies from the Civil War. I'm convinced that Liam Neeson and Pierce Brosnan did Seraphim Falls so they could say they've got a western in their credit lists.
Let's just say he's had some brutality inflicted on him in General Sherman's particular brand of war on the south in the person of Brosnan when he was in uniform.Though Angelica Huston as a medicine show lady and Wes Studi as a philosophical Indian have some interesting roles, Seraphim Falls is a film that belongs to its well matched leads.
And then it goes all siddhartha in the end.I'm open to new ways of using the western formate, I love a movie that surprises me and makes me think.
Well, because besides being a bit of a western, with rugged men toting guns on horseback, and a bit of a drama, with sad faced innocents, glimpses of lost love, and lots of deaths, "Seraphim Falls" plunges along into a great chase story without ever revealing who the bad guy is.
Neeson brilliantly played such a man - a man who would trade his last drink of water for a gun with one bullet as he crossed a desert in search of Pierce Brosnan, the bad guy, who really wasn't.Brosnan, who out-Ramboed John Rambo as he treated his own wound early in the film, gave a really cool performance as the man who just couldn't understand why Neeson couldn't let go.Writer/Director David Von Ancken did a credible job with a story that plays well for all of us.Oscar-winning Cinematographer John Toll (Braveheart, Legends of the Fall) gave us breathtaking scenes in Oregon and New Mexico to take away with us..
I've seen Seraphim Falls last night and I really like it.Its very underrated and Pierce performance is superb ,I can't believe one day I will see him in a western and he nail the part so perfect.The casting of this film with Brosnan and Neeson (two Irish legend) really blow me away,its the best casting of the year,the photography is another plus point for the film.But sadly not many people embrace this film,the marketing push for the film by the distributor is very poor.The filmmaker made a western that pay homage to classic cowboy film from the 50s and if this film was made during that time it would have been hail as one of the finest western ever.Hope when it get released thru DVD it will get a larger audience.I predict Seraphim Falls will be a cult classic within 10 yrs from now..
This hunting of Pierce Brosnan's "Gideon," by Liam Neeson's ("Carver") and his help, most notably Michael Wincott as "Hayes" is the whole story.
Anjelica Huston gets good billing on the back of the DVD box, but doesn't show up on screen until after an hour-and-half, and then plays a small and sleazy role similar to all the men in the picture.Not recommended for western fans who like good guys versus bad guys, because there are no good guys in this film..
You never doubt the motives of the characters or fail to understand what they are thinking and feeling.The scenery is fantastic, the contrast of the snowbound environment at the films outset, through to the arid desert settings of the finale, the irony of the initial danger of water and then the necessity of it at the end, is a real strength of the picture.If you enjoy Westerns, chase movies, people in life or death survival situations and well filmed and acted pictures, i highly recommend this one..
One of the first scenes in the movie involves Pierce Brosnan falling down a very mountainous, steep snowbank for several minutes before coming to rest, then soon after he drops a knife from a branch near the top of a tree, impaling one of Liam's henchman through the head...
Seraphim Falls is a chase film, but it's filmed with beauty and precision in New Mexico, and thought the plot is equally simple, the character development and the allegorical overlay makes it, if perhaps a little long, a compelling old fashioned Western.Neeson and Brosnan, both Irish, play Civil War officers with bad blood between them, the reasons for which slowly unfold as one stalks the other--on the way, they encounter a railway being built, a religious cult plopped down in the desert, a lone native American in a top hat by an oasis--in other words, enough variety to keep the chase fascinating--and the music drives the plot along nicely, the grand sweep of the photography from mountain ranges to cracked desert floors a trip in itself.
But the idea behind Seraphim Falls, I can image, sort of falls half way between a traditional Spaghetti Western in the sense it takes place in a vast and open world in which different, shady characters get involved with one another and it's hard to tell apart a good guy to a bad guy and a more artistic, slower film that utilises a simple concept of chase but puts its characters in a location in which there are many places to run but few to hide.Make no mistake, I am impressed with director Von Ancken's ability to come up with a basic story but transform it from script to screen; often the best stories that are going to be told with an artistic approach are the most simplistic ones.
It is true to say that the only real characters in this film are the two leads; Carver (Neeson) and Gideon (Brosnan) with the rest being relegated to names and faces of people who are either: a; in Carver's gang and represent a sort of sacrifice if the audience get a little bloodthirsty, b; passers by of Gideon's journey who might also act as ammunition for the bloodthirsty audience or c; nameless and faceless people there to stall Gideon as he gets lost in a sea of people (the railroad construction is this segment).
"Seraphim Falls" makes the most of its spare 20-minute opening, little more than an excuse to see Pierce Brosnan desperately fleeing Liam Neeson's nearing posse (honestly, the guy gets punished in all manner of ways, gunshot, wilderness, what-have-you).
Liam Neeson and Pierce Brosnan play pursuer and the pursued in this intelligent, beautifully filmed, and provocative Western / revenge saga.
: ) The only other thing that I want to add is that this is an EXTREMELY Existentialist film (well, technically until the odd couple of encounters toward the end which will likely turn off the Western 'Realists' that ol' IQ is talking about) As he also said, this is not your usual by the numbers, Good Guys / Bad Guys kind of film.
In one way it is REALLY stripped down to very RAW, primitive elements; but, on the other hand there is a very low-key, sort of subtle underlying almost metaphysical feel to it, ESPECIALLY at the end.So, as IQ said about 'Misdirected'; I wouldn't really quite use that word, since I do not feel that the film itself is misdirected, but I would say that people who go to watch this movie can VERY easily and mistakenly be misdirected into thinking or erroneously jumping to the conclusion that it is overly simple and / or boring with nothing much to it.So, in a unique way it is sort of a 'Thinking Man's' Western, but only in a deep down, almost vague kind of way.
The 'Thinking' part isn't based upon any obvious 'Cleverness', but more in a 'Pondering' kind of way well after you have finished watching the movie.Heh, truly a hard one to put across to others as to whether they would want to watch it or not, but like IQ stated far more eloquently than I could, if you consider what kind of Western it is that you enjoy, you should be able to make a decent guess as to whether you would like this film....
The landscapes look and feel beautiful and the characters all have that weathered look, particularly Pierce Brosnan who's almost unrecognisable in the leading role.It kicks off with action at the outset and remains a chase film throughout.
I rented this movie because my husband adores westerns and I adore Pierce Brosnan and Liam Neeson, well most of the time; but definitely not this time.
The last of the sidekicks, in a very good performance by Michael Wincott, get taken out by the ugly face the revenge at a hands grasp.We can see two great actors – Pierce Brosnan and Liam Neeson, portraying two soldiers, hardened by war and hardship, making their way into an ending which turns out to be a little weak, where we can see that the men aren't so hardened.
I think so ..., in a little twisted and just way.It's a very good movie with great landscapes and very worthwhile example of the long lost western..
Seraphim Falls was the third Western of that year and whilst it was not as good as the first two films, it was a very bold and solid debut by David Von Ancken.In 1868, a nameless outlaw (Pierce Bronson) is living a very rustic live in the Ruby Mountains in Utah when he is hunted down by a group of bounty hunter lead by Carver (Liam Neeson).
Seraphim Falls can truly be called an old style western; it doesn't deliver a whole lot of dialogue but the scenery and firm story make you forget about that.When you watch this film think not about watching some big shoot'em up, but about watching a film that makes you think if you don't look for forgiveness you may never find redemption, if you don't go back to face what you have done instead of running away you will at least know you stuck it out and saw it trough to the end.That's what this movie is trying to put across and if you stop and think long and hard about it you will see it too, this may see o you like a revenge movie but it's actually a story of redemption and forgiveness.
If you are looking for a Liam Neeson or Pierce Brosnan film, watch it, if you seek for a good western and non cliché movie, do not waste your time.
(Director Van Ancken isn't afraid to borrow from a whole host of sources yet giving the film it's own very distinctive stamp).Fundamentally a chase movie as Neeson and his men hunt down Brosnan for an act of violence that occurred just as the Civil War was ending, (they were on opposite sides), the 'plot', such as it is, becomes secondary to the look and texture of the film.
SERAPHIM FALLS (2007) *** Pierce Brosnan, Liam Neeson, Angie Harmon, Anjelica Huston, Ed Lauter, Michael Wincott, Robert Baker, Kevin J.O'Connor, Xander Berkeley, Wes Studi, James Jordan, Nate Mooney, Jimmi Simpson, Tom Noonan, Shannon Zeller.Vengeance has its price.The revenge Western has been around for quite some time  as long as revenge has been around I suppose (which may be redundant)  and the latest of this sub-genre owes quite a bit to John Ford's "The Searchers" and a kissing cousin to the Clint Eastwood revenge oater "The Outlaw Josey Wales'.In its latest incarnation, the story begins in the wintry confines of the Ruby Mountains circa 1868, and Gideon (a nearly unrecognizable Brosnan as far away from being The Artist Formerly Known As Bond here) is being pursued by a relentless tracker in the form of a taciturn man named Carver (low-key Neeson speaking volumes in his determined yet steely silent eyes), hell-bent on catching his fugitive, in tow with several hired guns to get the job done, by any means necessary.Opening with Gideon being shot in the arm and running through the wintry landscape, falling into a freezing river and eventually excising the silver-dollar sized bullet with wincing dexterity, the pace continues to be breathless and anticipatory as Gideon manages to be one-step ahead while Carver's troupe are two-behind.The reason for Carver's intent is not revealed until the final act (which is the weaker part of the film) but consider its post-Civil War thread and that should sate those who don't want a spoiler thrown in for good measure.Both actors give finely tuned turns here with Brosnan in one of his most physically demanding performances with a certain dirt-under-the-fingernails grittiness, sporting a Don Quixote VanDyke and thatch of graying hair, a grizzled wrinkling pre-aged look that suggests his suffering character is damned in the long run.
It's just about revenge, like some of the best westerns of the 50s and 60s.Carver (Liam Neeson) is on the hunt for Gideon (Pierce Brosnan) with a set of accomplices (including most notably Michael Wincott and Ed Lauter -- men with great western faces that Leone himself would have adored).
those kind of 'wise messages' were trivial and stupid...It's a lame to have such great cast like Liam Neeson, Pierce Brosnan or Angelica Huston just to develop a nonsense story with terrible special effects (who would come out from a dead horse like that!?) and a terrible ending...Don't waste your time....
Though the answers do come, the first hour of the film has to rest of the performances of Pierce Brosnan and Liam Neeson.