Review of Seraphim Falls (2007) by Paul W — 18 Feb 2008

To be fair to this film, I should start off by saying that it has been badly named. "Seraphim Falls" should have been called "Nothing Happens".

I think that makes my point.

The fact that this is a western is what gets this film it's first star. The second star comes from the cool knife involved in many of the scenes. Thats it.

I would comment on the story, except there isn't one. The same applies to the script. It obviously tries to build tension, and create some sort of emotion towards the characters, unfortunatley there is no tension, and the only emotion felt is frustration at the pace the film moves.

Neeson's performance isn't even close to what I know he is capable of (Batman Begins/Kingdom of Heaven). It felt like he wasn't even trying. I was optemistic with Brosnan at the start of the film, thinking he could prove his acting talent this time. Unfortunately seeing as this film basically has no dialogue all I can say is that Pierce is good at the occasional grunt and groan. The ending tries to be clever, delivering the long awaited statement to give meaning to the film (in the form of a peddler), this however falls flat on it's face when the point comes out of nowhere (literally appears out of the desert), and makes a point that would gives the viewer the same satisfaction that could be gained from spending 1hr and 11 minutes watching paint dry.