Seraphim Falls wants to have its cake and eat it too by being both an artsy Western and an engaging chase thriller. But it ends up as a sluggish combination of the two, offering only a few thrills -- which are nearly overcome by how full of itself the film is for treading slightly off the beaten path. 

Set during the years after the end of the Civil War, Seraphim Falls drops the viewers right in the middle of an ongoing story. Deep in Nevada's Ruby Mountains, a disheveled mess of a man named Gideon (Pierce Brosnan) is being chased by another man, Carver (Liam Neeson), and his posse. Gideon is a resourceful man who can scrape bullets out of his skin and bandage himself up while on the run from his pursuers. Carver is equally intelligent, able to figure out Gideon's next moves rather quickly and continue the hunt with his tired men in tow. Why are these two men at such deadly odds with one another? (Smart viewers will figure this out after about five minutes.) All we know is that a terrible incident took place at  Seraphim Falls and caused Gideon's willingness to brave sweltering deserts, trigger-happy criminals and sadistic railroad foremen as he runs away from it -- with Carver hell-bent on tracking him down once and for all.

Movies deliberately low on plot are always a crapshoot, with the successful ones usually having a satisfying payoff to a fairly uneventful plot. The trouble with Seraphim Falls involves the viewer  being able to grasp the situation right off the bat, then having to wait for its resolution again...and again...and again. It's like watching a bad slasher movie where you've figured out who the killer is, but the film insists on drawing things out for as long as it can. Seraphim Falls provides little to distract the viewer in the meantime, so it's a bummer when the destination turns out to be an expected one and the journey is not all that great. Also, there's little emotional connection with the characters. Although  Seraphim Falls has the perfect atmosphere for an epic drama -- the story comes across like  a project out of Westerns 101.

This movie is much more admirable on a technical level then on a thematic one. The cinematography is absolutely beautiful, starting off by capturing the chilly isolation of a snowy mountain range at the beginning and bringing out the gritty intensity of a barren desert at the end. The violence may be sparse, but it's surprising and leads to a number of thrilling moments that give the story a jolt even at its most boring points. In terms of the acting, Neeson and  Brosnan deliver solid turns. Brosnan, whose character encounters a number of physical obstacles over the course of the movie, is particularly impressive. It's always great to see this guy trying to distance himself from the iconic James Bond role, and although he's given even better performances in The Matador and Evelyn, his effort here is appreciated.

Still, thanks to the script's simplicity and tendency to drag on when it should be speeding things up, the emotional investment in Brosnan and Neeson's characters isn't well-spent, especially considering where these men end up and what happens on the way there. Even though I'm in favor of more Westerns being made in this day and age, if they all turn out like Seraphim Falls, perhaps it's time for the genre to take one last ride into the sunset.

MY RATING: ** (out of ****)

(Released by Sony Pictures and rated "R" for violence and brief language.)