91热爆

The chase is on in brooding western Seraphim Falls, with Liam Neeson gunning for Pierce Brosnan across snowy mountains, river rapids and blazing desert. It's a refreshingly basic story from writer/director David Von Ancken, eschewing dialogue in favour of visceral action. Even so, the script isn't as lean as it could be, and the pace lags in the middle. Of course Messrs Neeson and Brosnan are getting on a bit and it's their crotchety stubbornness that keeps you hooked.

Von Ancken cuts immediately to the chase as Gideon (Brosnan) takes a bullet in the arm in scene one. Hunted through the Rocky Mountain forests by Carver (Neeson) and a ragtag posse, he ends up having to dig the lead from his flesh and cauterise the wound himself. There's a touch of the John Rambos about this fella, but the details of Gideon's obviously shady past and how Carver figures into it are kept under wraps for the best part of the story. We only know that the offence was committed during the Civil War and 'a man's gotta do...'

"INHERENTLY CINEMATIC"

It's because Von Ancken clings so tightly to the secrets of these sworn enemies that - after a heart-pounding half hour with barely ten words spoken - the action starts to feel a bit stuck in the mud. Fortunately the imposing landscapes and the shrinking effect Mother Nature has on these two grimly determined men is inherently cinematic. Neeson is all 'true grit', but Brosnan has the meatier role - practically doubled over with guilt. Still, we're not afforded the luxury of having too much sympathy with either of them. A trail of bloody violence leads to an otherworldly, downright Faustian conclusion featuring Anjelica Huston. A tad ponderous it may be, but you certainly couldn't call it yellow-bellied.

Seraphim Falls is out in the UK on 24th August 2007.