The Salvation

This attempted homage to westerns contains all the trappings: boots, spurs, horses, saddles, black hats, real baddies, flawed heroes and even an emotionally and physically wounded femme fatale/victim. Alas, all is for naught. But for the performances of Mads Mikkelsen and especially that of Eva Green, this Dannish effort would bite the bullet. The photography is lovely and the villains are nasty but the narrative lacks a pulse. This is an ersatz horse opera because it is not a film about the West, rather it is a film about American westerns. It is worshiping American film makers such as John Ford and John Hawkes (and Clint Eastwood, I suppose) The movie was likely inspired (influenced? ) by a little-known western, Terror in a Texas Town (1958) with Sterling Hayden. This film might be thought of as a spaghetti western of sorts, but it is a few noodles short of a full plate.