The Salvation

More Sergio Leone than John Ford, this Danish-British-South African Western is a visually expansive compendium of revenge-movie clichés suffused with Scandinavian angst. Mads Mikkelsen stars as Jon, an ex-soldier who emigrates to America in the 1860s. After building a homestead, Jon brings his wife and son to the New World, but when they're killed by thugs, he retaliates against the perpetrators. Unfortunately, one man was the brother of Delarue (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), a vicious agent for an oil company that is buying up all the land in the area. Delarue compels the townspeople to turn Jon over, but the taciturn hero escapes and begins a one-man campaign against Delarue and his army of enforcers, finding an unlikely ally in Delarue's mute, now-widowed sister-in-law (Eva Green), who is disgusted by Delarue's lustful advances. Not surprisingly, good ultimately triumphs in a burst of violence. Filmed in South Africa, where the vistas bear an uncanny resemblance to Ford's beloved Monument Valley, The Salvation is as much an homage to previous homages as it is to classic Hollywood Westerns, and it features the failings of any clone of a clone: the unrelenting familiarity elicits smiles of recognition rather than emotional involvement. Still, devotees of Westerns will likely enjoy seeing the old tropes again. A strong optional purchase. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include cast and crew interviews (45 min.), behind-the-scenes featurettes (7 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for this throwback Western.] (F. Swietek)