The Salvation

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

Well worth the watch.

"The Salvation" drew my curiosity for two things: the lead and the fact that it's a Danish western.

The atmosphere of the wild-west is really well done and has immersed me in the mid 1800's, and with a well-paced narrative and suspense of a typical revenge-story told effectively.

Mads Mikkelsen shines as the lead but the overall cast is good. Compliments to the screenwriter, too, for creating several characters that I would wish to see more of.

However, what stops me from giving "The Salvation" an 8 or more is the ending, the very final scene. For me, it feels out of place, fake- looking and preachy. It's funny how less than a minute of a scenery- footage can lessen the quality of the entire story.

If you like Open Range, 3:10 to Yuma, True Grit and Unforgiven, you should certainly check this movie out.

Set in the Old West in 1871 we meet Jon (Mads Mikkelsen)and Peter (Mikael Persbrandt) both soldiers who fought in the war of 1864 in their old country. Here Jon has been waiting to be reunited with his wife and son after a seven year gap. Only as soon as they arrive they befall a terrible crime and the only way Jon is going to be able to re right the wrong is by fighting back.

Now to say any more could be a plot spoiler – needless to say this is a classic western of the revenge genre. It paints the bad guys really bad and the good guys flawed but essentially 'right'. There is ambiguity too and there are the townsfolk with their own agendas and greed and power stalking the prairie.

What makes this outstanding is the acting, the musical score, the make up and the fantastic direction. Director Kristian Levring is clearly a fan of John Ford and those of you who know your westerns will see a few shots framed a la 'The Searchers'. Still I see this as flattery and this is truly an excellent film that will only go to prove that as a genre the western is alive, kicking and doing really well – absolutely recommended

If you like traditional westerns you will enjoy this film.

These days you don't get to see American westerns very often, so is nice to see that genre is not dead thanks to productions like this one from Denmark or others like The Dark Valley (Das finstere Tal).

Mads Mikkelsen plays the main character with great professionalism, without excesses. Same thing with Eva Green, portraying a scarred mute woman that talks only with her eyes.

You have the good guy, the VERY bad guy, the town full of cowards, the tormented girl, the backstabbing character. All the things you expect to find in a good old western. If you add to that the good performances, my only advice is, see this movie.

A straight up western starring Mads Mikkelsen, Eva Green, Jeffery Dean Morgan, and even Eric Cantona. Danish production, shot in South Africa, it looked convincingly American west. It's very old school in its story, good guy vs bad guy, revenge, gun fights, the whole nine yards. And it's a pretty fine movie too.

Danish guy waits for his wife and son to arrive in America to start new lives, but bad guys are going to spoil their plan. There's no way he's going to let them bad guys go, after toiling for 7 years to start a new life only to see it destroyed as soon as his family arrives. And did I mention he fought wars in the Danish army before he moved to America? Oh yeah, this Dane know how to shoot straight too.

You really do get the feeling that this guy wants no trouble and just wants to get on with his life, but it's trouble that comes looking for him. A lot of new westerns tend to be "different" and avoid the straight up good vs bad revenge trope because it's been done to death during the genre's heyday. But I think it's a good time revisit that trope with today's new talent and technology. The story may be cliché, but everything else feels fresh. The best western I've watched in a long time.