Seraphim Falls (2006)

Director:

David Von Ancken

Writers:

David Von Ancken (written by) &
Abby Everett Jaques (written by)

Release Date:

13 April 2007 (Taiwan)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller | War | Western

Tagline:

Never turn your back on the past.

Plot:

At the end of the Civil War, a colonel hunts down a man with whom he has a grudge.

Plot Keywords:

Knife | Knife Throwing | Cult Western | Survival Tactics | Knife In Throat

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Liam Neeson	...	Carver
Pierce Brosnan	...	Gideon
Michael Wincott	...	Hayes
Xander Berkeley	...	Railroad Foreman
Ed Lauter	...	Parsons
Tom Noonan	...	Minister Abraham
Kevin J. O'Connor	...	Henry
John Robinson	...	Kid
Anjelica Huston	...	Madame Louise
Angie Harmon	...	Rose
Robert Baker	...	Pope
Wes Studi	...	Charon (as Wes Studie)
Jimmi Simpson	...	Big Brother
James Jordan	...	Little Brother
Nate Mooney	...	Cousin Bill

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and brief language.

Runtime:

115 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Ireland:15A | USA:R (certificate #40880) | UK:15 | Germany:16 | Finland:K-15 | Singapore:NC-16 | Argentina:13 | Brazil:14 | New Zealand:R16 | Australia:MA | Greece:K

Filming Locations:

Death Valley National Park, California, USA

Company:

Icon Productions

Trivia:

The key to Anjelica Huston's role can be found on the back of her wagon. It isn't on screen very long, but the name of her character - as painted on the back of her wagon - explains who she is and what she's doing there.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: During the scenes in the railroad camp, numerous extras are seen flailing away at the new railroad tracks with spike hammers, despite no one actually installing any spikes. In one particularly obvious scene, two teams of laborers drop two rails on the roadbed side by side, then immediately start hammering randomly on them, without anyone actually placing any spikes, or even bothering to gauge the distance between the rails.

Quotes:

Water Man: Go as you wish. That which is yours will always return to you. That which you take will always be taken from you.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Behind the Scenes of 'Seraphim Falls' (2007) (V)

Soundtrack:

Stacked Them Up in Piles

solid western

Written by Abby Everett Jaques and David Von Ancken and directed by Von Ancken, "Seraphim Falls" is a rough, tough, old-fashioned western set on the dusty plains and snow-covered mountains of western Nevada. The plot is little more than a straightforward revenge tale involving Liam Neeson (sans Southern accent) as a sadistic Rebel army colonel who hires a posse to track down the marauding Union officer he believes slaughtered his family in the days following the Civil War. The officer, played with steely-eyed determination by Pierce Brosnan, is a savvy, quick-on-the-draw survivalist who, through sheer ingenuity and skill, stymies and outwits the colonel and his men at every turn.

What "Seraphim Falls" lacks in substance, it more than makes up for in grit and style. For even though there isn't a great deal of depth to the characters, there's much pleasure to be derived from merely watching two actors of the caliber of Neeson and Brosnan squaring off in a grueling game of cat-and-mouse played out in a punishing, unforgiving landscape. Brosnan's character achieves an almost Superman-like quality as he stays one step ahead of his pursuers, devising ever-more elaborate means of ensnaring them in his traps. The movie takes a decidedly metaphysical turn in its closing stretches, with the divine Anjelica Huston, no less, appearing out of nowhere as a desert apparition to set the boys straight on a few eternal verities like redemption and forgiveness. But it is as a simple tale of vengeance and obsession that "Seraphim Falls" most captures our imagination and interest.