The Salvation

A beautiful, if brutal revenge western, that brings real style and class to the genre. The screenplay and story are full of surprises and tension and one begins to expect the unexpected. Following on from his excellent performances in films like ‘The Hunt and ‘A Royal affair’, as well as his TV outing in ‘Hannibal, Mads Mikkelesen proves once again that he is a commanding presence on screen and an actor one looks forward to watching. High production values across the board and a stunning South African location also make the film both aurally and aesthetically pleasing. However, it must be said that the cinematography is the star of the show. With its vibrant use of colour and the almost surreal beauty of its night time shots the film belies a probable small budget and looks better than most blockbusters ever could. This is a real gem that will reward those who seek out its treasure. Small, maybe, but perfectly formed.

A pretty cool if very derivative Danish western, Mikkelsen is always good. Decent.

Le grand et très appréciable Mads qu'il est toujours agréable de voir, y compris dans ce western quelque peu étrange, plutôt bien filmé et... assez inspiré du western-spaghetti dans le choix de ses cadres, ses plans et son atmosphère. Etrange disais-je, car le scénario un tantinet mollasson n'est pas avare de nombreuses incohérences et de raccourcis tandis que la violence qui y est dépeinte se veut ma foi assez brute de fonderie mais sans en faire trop non plus (un bon point), ce qui rejoint cet aspect "spaghetti" réhabilité en quelque chose de plus "moderne" si j'ose dire. La merveilleuse Eva Green est de la fête, entièrement muette, ce qui n'entache en rien sa prestation (elle parle avec ses beaux yeux et ses divins sourcils) malgré son rôle secondaire voire même en porte-à-faux. Signalons la présence de notre abruti de footballeur qui se prend pour un acteur et qui dispose d'un rôle mono-expression à la hauteur de son air ahuri : c'est fort distrayant. On l'a compris, The Salvation manque décidément d'équilibre mais ne s'avère point déplaisant tout compte fait.

The Salvation is a western in all rule, and that is both its strongest point as its weakest point, its quality is undeniable, it is certain that there are problems with its script, but otherwise complies.

The Salvation – No Saving Graces Here Seeing this was listed as a Danish movie had hoped for something different, tuned out to be a Danish Dumper. There should be a law stating that when a movie maker copies another’s work they should pay some sort of fine – this Danish flick is a dismal rip-off of Leone’s equally overblown ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’ which in turn was a rip-off of numerous American westerns and John Ford. All the tired old clichés are trundled out shamelessly – the town full of cowardly citizens (including the sheriff) afraid to stand up to a bunch of ruthless bullies (who they actually seem to outnumber) The peace-loving settler whose family are for no good reason, cruelly destroyed - followed by the impossibly contrived revenge plot. The baddies are badder-than-bad and kill for little or no reason (just to manipulate an easily pleased audience into wanting them violently slaughtered) The music imitates Morricone all over again, as do the camera angles and desert settings. This set-up is so tired it’s almost sleep-inducing. Strictly for lovers of copycat movies or the easily conned western geeks.