Seraphim Falls

***/****     SERAPHIM FALLS (R)

John Hillcoat’s 2006 Australian-Western The Proposition starred Guy Pearce and Ray Winstone in the best western film in well-over a decade. A compelling and well-acted movie, The Proposition was a refreshing change of pace in the crowded environment of indie-dramas. Now with the release of this year’s equally engaging Seraphim Falls from first-time feature film director David Von Ancken, we may be seeing a revitalization of a forgotten genre.

Gideon (Pierce Brosnan) is a grizzly-looking trapper who gets shot in the arm in the woods by would-be assailant Carver (Liam Neeson). Gideon manages to elude capture though, fleeing through the cold, wintry wilderness. Gideon stumbles upon a log cabin where a young woman named Charlotte (Shannon Zeller) nurses his wounds and provides him with a place to relax, but Carver and his gang of hunters remain hot on Gideon’s tail, as they follow his foot-prints in the snow and his blood-stained trail.

It turns out Gideon is an ex-Union Captain who three years ago during the Civil War ordered the house of Confederate Colonel Carver be burned to the ground because of his lack of cooperation. But Gideon’s actions unintentionally resulted in the death of Carver’s wife and baby, both of whom were accidentally left inside of the burning home. In a vengeful move, Carver has now placed a bounty on Gideon’s head with hopes of being able to exact some revenge.

Unlike most modern-day westerns, Seraphim Falls is light on the action and delves more heavily into the characters and the hunt, in a similar manner to that of John Ford’s The Searchers. Von Ancken’s picture has a great awarness about itself, holding your attention with its gorgeous photography and an intriguing pace, centering around the gradual self-discovery among two complex characters who could have easily fallen into overused good guy-bad guy roles.

Pierce Brosnan (The Matador, After the Sunset) turns in the best-performance of his career as the suppressed Gideon. Brosnan’s gritty and emotional work was a joy to watch following his disappointing seven-year run as James Bond. Neeson (Batman Begins, Kingdom of Heaven) is not quite as strong, as he plays the spiteful Carver oddly subdued. Xander Berkeley (Fracture, North Country), Angie Harmon (Fun with Dick and Jane, Agent Cody Banks) and Anjelica Huston (Material Girls, Art School Confidential) all make small appearances in the film, but none of their contributions add much to the overall story.

The movie does suffer a bit from some lazy writing from first-time screenwriters Von Ancken and Abby Everett Jaques, with artificial dialogue and occasions of exposition where important elements are just spoken instead of shown. And Seraphim Falls eventually loses steam, as it starts struggling with finding a satisfying conclusion.

An early-year release that will inevitably get lost in the shuffle at year’s end, Seraphim Falls is a solidly-crafted genre piece sure to appease fans.