Review of The Salvation (2014) by Benjamin N — 18 Nov 2015

Where did it all go wrong? In what should be an utterly magnetic and vicious western, The Salvation takes a great cast and decent idea and does absolutely nothing during its run time, that remotely gets your blood pumping.

After a huge time apart, John and his family are reunited with one another. As they make their way home, a couple of degenerate thugs, rape and murder his family, leaving John no option but to get revenge.

This revenge however sparks a nut case called Delarue and his gang of thugs, to rampage through his home town and cause John even more pain and suffering. It's a simple revenge plot thread, set in a western genre and although on paper it shows promise, especially when you read the acting talent, The Salvation is completely boring and uninspiring.

Mikkelson, Morgan, Green and Cantona, yes you read that right, all pull out acceptable performances, but the writing just isnt there for them to give anything more. Characters are either extremely bad or extremely good, no middle ground, no back story, nothing in terms of substance.

Mikkelson is more than capable of holding a film together using zero dialogue, but the rest of the cast just pull off pantomine characters, because that's what seems to be required. The Salvation just doesnt stick out, it doesnt do anything, the violence never effects you, the sense of threat never feels real, for all the grotesque character traits, their actions never measure up and criminally the film is littered in CGI, why is nighttime done in CGI, or wooden structures for that matter, or blood.

The Salvation looks and feels like it has been shot entirely in front of a green screen, even though it hasnt, how thats possible I have no idea. It's never pretty, in fact not one single shot is interesting.

It's a very basic and static affair, never feeling engaging or indeed inspiring to watch. This is a lifeless western, which culminates in to most boring shoot out imaginable, full of CGI fire and no threatening violence, John never feels like he is in danger or indeed even trying, Mikkelson is so much better than what he is working with here, its heart braking to watch.

I have very little to say about this film, it looks rotten, the score is crap, the characters are paper thin and there is no pulse, it gets a point for cast and a point for idea, however neither of those plus marks can even hold your attention for very long.