There’s a rich (and bloody) tradition of avenging angels in Westerns, from Harmonica in **Once Upon A Time In The West **to Ethan Edwards in The Searchers and Josey Wales. Add Mads Mikkelsen’s character in **The Salvation **to that number. He’s all cold-blooded business, as this exclusive new clip from the film reveals.
Mikkelsen’s prairieland badass is a Danish settler, Jon, whose family is brutally murdered by a crew of rowdy horsemen during one ill-fated stagecoach ride. Jon exacts instant revenge on the perpetrator, only to discover that, like Old Man Clanton in My Darling Clementine, there’s more badness where he came from. Cue Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Delarue, the gang leader’s and now also on the hunt for revenge. Basically everyone here is on a revenge mission, hardly the recipe for a relaxing afternoon in an up-and-coming part of the Old West.
The townsfolk, led by Jonathan Pryce’s lily-livered mayor, hardly rush to Jon’s side to face down the big bad. And as the clip hints, they may be more in cahoots with Delarue than our hero released. Co-starring Eva Green, Mikael Persbrandt and with Eric Cantona offering a gallic twist on the Mungo henchman role, it’s the handiwork of Dogme95 veteran Kristian Levring. The Salvation arrives in UK cinemas on April 17.