The Salvation

Good fun shoot em up Danish American tale of Western justice and revenge. A proper cowboy yarn.

Well worth the watch.

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.

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!

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?

Saw this on premiere-night in Denmark and left the cinema relieved and with a smile on my face. Director Kristian Levring delivers a very believable, dark and uncompromising western set in a very classic western atmosphere.

The story is straightforward and although it moves along slowly at times (fast paced at others), it's quite intense and is generally beautifully shot.

If you're going for a feel good movie, this is not it, but if you like classic westerns, you'll enjoy it.

Mads Mikkelsen and Mikael Persbrandt deliver solid performances as the danish brothers Jon and Peter who've emigrated to America after fighting the Germans in the danish/German war of 1864. But for me, Eva Green steals the show as the mute Madelaine (princess). She has a very mystical and powerful presence and leaves you wondering, wanting more.

All in all a very enjoyable picture that is a great testament to how far danish cinema has come. This is quite uncharacteristic for a typical danish movie, but Levring really pulls it off and I think any lover of westerns will find this a solid addition to the batch of quality westerns in the past 10 years (The Proposition, 3:10 to Yuma, True grit, Django Unchained etc.) It doesn't quite reach those levels, but it's close and it's enjoyable.