I saw the trailer to "The Dark Valley" several times before other movies, so I roughly knew what to expect here. And basically it delivered everything I thought it would. The only thing that surprised me a bit was that it turned out to be actually pretty violent, especially towards the end. So, if you're not into graphic violence, better stay away.
The lead character (Greider) is played by Sam Riley, the lucky bastard who got to marry Alexandra Maria Lara. He comes as a stranger to a remote Austrian village looking for work and a place to stay for a while. The two main antagonists (Brenner family) are played by Tobias Moretti ("Kommissar Rex") and Hans-Michael Rehberg, both probably only known to German-speaking audiences. Here you mostly get a revenge western movie by the books. It has all been done already, but it is still worth a watch. I just wish the makers could have gone a bit more unconventional path other than the lead character killing all his enemies one by one. One way I would have preferred for example would have been that he let Moretti's character kill him after he took all his brothers. Also the whole storyline with Rehberg's character (inclusing the murder) felt a bit strange and not really necessary.
That one scene with the little boy who surprised Greider near the end offered a lot more emotional potential than they actually managed to deliver, just like the part with the bullet injury. They did a much better job early on with the suspense they built when the first two of the Brenner clan are killed. Accident or murder? Still unclear at that point.
Director Andreas Prochaska has done mostly TV work before, but you may have heard about "Dead in 3 Days", his most known work so far for the big screen. One thing I liked a lot about his most recent work was that they did not include a love story for the sake of it. There was a female character who was attracted to the main character, but 19th century things did not necessarily work that way and she stayed with her man., who even helped Greider on one occasion. Xenia Assenzas character was still a bit half-baked and sometimes felt only to be included to have a female character at all. Apart from that the several members of the Brenner family got a bit confusing, who was who, who did what etc. One of them you could define by his laugh, but that was pretty much it, not by their backgrounds, actions, different characters etc. except Moretti who was the leader obviously. Another criticism I had was that Riley simply may not have been the best choice for Greider. He looked too nice and innocent to convincingly portray such a cold-blooded killer Clint-Eastwood-style, even after we found out about his motivations. I'm sure they could have found a talented German actor as good or even better instead of going for an internationally known actor. How about Fabian Hinrichs for example? The thing I liked most about the film were probably the costumes and landscapes. The German Film Academy liked it a lot more than myself and honored it in all kinds of categories, including the second-best German film of the year. Give it a go if you're into Western movies. There aren't so many new ones these days.
The lead character (Greider) is played by Sam Riley, the lucky bastard who got to marry Alexandra Maria Lara. He comes as a stranger to a remote Austrian village looking for work and a place to stay for a while. The two main antagonists (Brenner family) are played by Tobias Moretti ("Kommissar Rex") and Hans-Michael Rehberg, both probably only known to German-speaking audiences. Here you mostly get a revenge western movie by the books. It has all been done already, but it is still worth a watch. I just wish the makers could have gone a bit more unconventional path other than the lead character killing all his enemies one by one. One way I would have preferred for example would have been that he let Moretti's character kill him after he took all his brothers. Also the whole storyline with Rehberg's character (inclusing the murder) felt a bit strange and not really necessary.
That one scene with the little boy who surprised Greider near the end offered a lot more emotional potential than they actually managed to deliver, just like the part with the bullet injury. They did a much better job early on with the suspense they built when the first two of the Brenner clan are killed. Accident or murder? Still unclear at that point.
Director Andreas Prochaska has done mostly TV work before, but you may have heard about "Dead in 3 Days", his most known work so far for the big screen. One thing I liked a lot about his most recent work was that they did not include a love story for the sake of it. There was a female character who was attracted to the main character, but 19th century things did not necessarily work that way and she stayed with her man., who even helped Greider on one occasion. Xenia Assenzas character was still a bit half-baked and sometimes felt only to be included to have a female character at all. Apart from that the several members of the Brenner family got a bit confusing, who was who, who did what etc. One of them you could define by his laugh, but that was pretty much it, not by their backgrounds, actions, different characters etc. except Moretti who was the leader obviously. Another criticism I had was that Riley simply may not have been the best choice for Greider. He looked too nice and innocent to convincingly portray such a cold-blooded killer Clint-Eastwood-style, even after we found out about his motivations. I'm sure they could have found a talented German actor as good or even better instead of going for an internationally known actor. How about Fabian Hinrichs for example? The thing I liked most about the film were probably the costumes and landscapes. The German Film Academy liked it a lot more than myself and honored it in all kinds of categories, including the second-best German film of the year. Give it a go if you're into Western movies. There aren't so many new ones these days.