When was the last time any of you watched a good old fashioned revenge western that concludes with a well staged gunfight showdown? Yeah! me too. Last one I recall that I thoroughly enjoyed was over a dozen years ago with Costner's Open Range.
Well pardners The Salvation now joins those great old westerns of yesteryear. Described as a Scandi/western starring Mads Mikklesen its a reasonable throwback to Peck's The Bravados and Eastwood's Spaghetti westerns. With a running time of just 90 minutes the film wastes no time in setting the scene with-the always watchable- Mikklesen (here looking very much like a young Palance in Shane) running down and executing the two low-lifes that have killed his wife and young son. However, one of the dead killers is the brother of the nastiest villain I've seen onscreen for many a year who casually shoots old ladies and other townsfolk and threatens to continue to do so until they deliver Mads to him and his gang of evil cut-throats.
Although the villains are somewhat one dimensional the cast do a fine job with a revenge plot that in my opinion always fitted westerns more than any other genre. Filmed in South Africa the backdrops are actual projections of Monument Valley and very professional they look too. So any of you western fans (especially Al/Lancer) take a look at this very satisfying old fashioned western- you wont be disappointed.
Spoiler below
Only disappointment I had was the final scene that was a little too clichéd for me when Mads rides of with the heroine, the stunning Eva Green. But on reflection maybe he was getting his own back on Daniel Craig in Casino Royale ^&grin
Bob
