When we think of Westerns made outside the United States the first that come to mind are usually those directed by Sergio Leone and scored by Ennio Morricone–the “spaghetti Westerns.” The best of these are from the 1960s, A Fistful of Dollars and The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. Danish director Kristian Levring is bringing to the States the next Western this year with his revenge story The Salvation.
Better labeled a EuroWestern perhaps than spaghetti Western, the trailer for The Salvation is making the rounds now after a European release last year, finally to make it into select U.S. cinemas and OnDemand later this month.
The last time we saw a movie that had that right Western look was the remake of 3:10 to Yuma, starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, released in 2007. Yuma was a little bit too Hollywood to result in a modern classic, but there’s something about The Salvation’s trailer that gives us hope. It may be the lack of Hollywood’s A-List actors. Instead we have two big European names, former stars of Casino Royale. Mads Mikkelsen, the well-known Danish actor who plays Hannibal Lector in the American Hannibal TV series is the male lead, playing opposite genre favorite and “Bond girl” Eva Green (The Golden Compass, 300: Rise of an Empire).
After the break check out the trailer for The Salvation.
Mikkelsen seems to possess that gritty “I’ve lost everything and now I’m going to get my revenge after getting beaten to a pulp” character here, and Green is really pulling off that simmering Jane Russell look from Howard Hughes’ 1946 Mexican production of The Outlaw.
New films in the Western genre are hard to come by, especially any with the right look and feel. Will this one get the Western genre right?
Look for The Salvation in theaters February 27, 2015.
C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com
