Screen Scene: “Seraphim Falls”

“Seraphim Falls”

Director David Von Ancken

Samuel Goldwyn Films LLC

A few years after the Civil War, one man finds himself running for his life as another hunts him mercilessly through the Western wilderness on the fringes of civilization.

“Seraphim Falls” certainly appears to have all the ingredients for success. Liam Neeson (“Batman Begins”) and Pierce Brosnan (James Bond from “Die Another Day”) going head to head. Beautiful Western scenery. A Civil War setting, seemingly evocative of Leone’s classic “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.”

Unfortunately, the weakest link is the script, from writer-director David Von Ancken, who struggles with his first feature-length film.

Little more than the title appears before we are thrown into the story, with little background but plenty of energy.

But Von Ancken fails to build upon this intense start, and the film limps along for an uncomfortably palpable 120 minutes.

Instead, we’re left to grasp at what little plot there is while waiting far too long to discover exactly why Carver (Neeson) is so obsessed with killing Gideon (Brosnan).

The ultimate revelation comes late in the film and is as disappointingly simple as one could possibly imagine.

It’s a game of cat-and-mouse that reminds the viewer exactly why Tom & Jerry worked best as animated shorts. Every time Carver comes within reach of his goal, Gideon rather conveniently slips through his fingers. Rinse. Repeat.

Along the way, we are subjected to numerous tired Western cliches: the wise Native American, the traveling Christians, Chinamen working the railroad, a gruff Irishman.

The fundamental problem is that, without the cliches, this wouldn’t be a Western. It would be a simple revenge story with underdeveloped characters. The Western motif is just the seasoning sauce that gives the lackluster script extra flavor.

In spite of its shortcomings, “Seraphim Falls” does have some clever ideas ““ mostly inventive scenes of violence and a few bits of unexpected dialogue.

However, a bit of cleverness and a lot of cliches make this story more suited for a student film than a feature.

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