Top Movies of the Decade #97

97.  Seraphim Falls

For a solid hour and a half, “Seraphim Falls” is gloriously simple.    One man chases another.   The one is relentless, the other has a talent for survival.   That’s really all you know, and you come to realize, as it progresses, that’s all you really need to know.   We watch movies like this for the chase.   The reasons for the chase are auxiliary.

And then it comes back down to earth and gives us a reason for the chase, and you can’t help but feel a little disappointed.   But then comes up with a surreal desert ending featuring Angelica Huston as the devil, and that pretty much makes up for its pedestrian turn.

“You men, you always choosing a gun over a remedy.”

“Go as you wish. That which is yours will always return to you. That which you take will always be taken from you.”

Hayes: Say, how’d you come by that scar on your neck? Indians? Them savages?
Minister: No, it was worse. Mormons. Praise be to God and a good rifle, he answered my prayers and not his.