Kristian Levring’s The Salvation starring Mads Mikkelsen, is an homage to American Westerns that shines in style but misses the mark in genre conviction. Mikkelsen plays a Danish soldier who settled in the Wild West after the Second Schleswig War. He lives in Black Creek, a typical oil town where fear and violence are currency and money is god. Having been separated from his wife (Nanna Oland Fabricius) and son (Toke Lars Bjarke) for seven years, the film opens with their train station reunion and journey to Black Creek where they hope to begin a new life.
No sooner have we met Mikkelsen’s loved ones are they raped and murdered, setting the stage (and standard for character development) for the rest of the film. Mikkelsen, in turn, shoots down the murderers, one of whom happens to be the brother of Black Creek’s merciless land baron, Delarue (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). Delarue’s thirst for revenge unfolds in a violent, beautifully shot, but ultimately uneventful rest of the film.
The dynamic is classic and the shootouts are well done, but The Salvation falls between two stools in terms of tone. The sleek style and luxurious pacing paired with tasteful acting and score suggest a certain amount of restraint geared toward a smarter, more wit-motivated kind of Western film such as 3:10 to Yuma. But if that’s the case, the writing doesn’t deliver. The simplicity of plot and character might better lend itself to a high-camp film, the kind with lots of twang and petticoats.
What originality exists in The Salvation’s story, lives in Eva Green’s character, “Princess,” the widow of Delarue’s murdered brother whose tongue was cut out by Indians as a child. Her mute performance is carried by fiery eyes and perhaps the only shotgun with a complex morality pulling the trigger. With Green backing up an always compelling Mikkelsen, the acting chops are enough of a pull for The Salvation. And although it lacks specific direction, what’s there is impressive, and just as American as any other Western, without a hint of Danish spaghetti. The camerawork is elegant and overall, the craftsmanship stacks up easily to many other films in its genre. While it doesn’t break any new ground, The Salvation will be entertaining from first to last gunshot for any true Western fan.
