Seraphim Falls: Critic Reviews

[Neeson] and Brosnan are supremely well-matched foils, though I do wish that the filmmaker, David Von Ancken, had lent his sparsely mythic tale just a twinge of something...new.

A handsome, old-fashioned western of few words and heavy meanings that unfolds with the sanctimonious grandeur of a biblical allegory.

A very impressive feature debut with this brutal western revenge thriller.

Seraphim Falls is a psychological drama with an intriguing ambiguity that challenges the viewer's loyalties and preconceived notions.

... an entertaining Western with some earnest ideas about forgiveness, redemption and the loss of innocents.

The director, David Von Ancken, and his cinematographer, John Toll, do magical things with the ever-shifting light, and there are splendidly weird turns from Anjelica Huston as a snake-oil salesperson and Tom Noonan as a wagon-train Evangelist.

Seraphim Falls is a movie some will relish and others will find a bit anachronistic.

... impressive for its stubborn classicism.

... Seraphim Falls keeps you in suspense with what will happen next: a good, old-fashioned storytelling virtue.

The technical revels are arresting, but Seraphim Falls is slow of motive and thin of plot -- a western that dies with its boots on.

Aside from spasms of brutal violence, however, there's nothing rousing or new here.

... moseys along very slowly ...

It's all very impressive looking, but this Civil War-era Western moves at a painstaking trickle.

... technically solid but dramatically unremarkable ...

It is not a terrible movie -- its beginning holds a certain promise -- just, finally, an unengaging one.

... it moves along with minimalist efficiency before running out of gas during an overlong allegorical final section.

Great performances, splendid looks, but its grip slackens toward a rather fuzzy finale.

Finally recalls a less convincing version of those of Anthony Mann which managed realism and the mythic without a false note.

As Gideon misses chance after chance to break free from the posse on his tail, you just want Seraphim Falls to end.

It may be too ponderous for some, and an appearance by Anjelica Huston as a snake-oil peddler near the end is a touch too surreal, but if you're a fan of Westerns the way they used to make them, you'll be mesmerised.

Rob Roy pursues James Bond in an old-fashioned Western that's cripplingly short on action.

A revenge epic it may be, but a rip-roaring rampage it's not.

As the story self-destructs, we are left with the majestic scenery, photographed by John Toll, and the pleasure of two good actors from one side of the Atlantic stretching themselves to seem convincing on the other.

Von Ancken at times brings his debut very close to something grand and memorable.

An unconvincing attempt at an old-fashioned western, Seraphim Falls works best as a chase thriller but falls apart when it tries to harness the mythic power of the American frontier.