User Reviews

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 DARK VALLEY is a slow burning Austrian western set in an Alpine village in the late 19th century. The rugged Alpine scenery dominates the movie and becomes a character in itself, whether it's rain-sodden or icy cold when the snows finally hit. Inevitably this is a well-shot film with some fine cinematography although the colour palette didn't really need to be so subdued as it would have been better without that clichéd greyed-out look.

The story is similar to the supernaturally-tinged Clint Eastwood westerns of the 1970s and 1980s. A young photographer arrives in the village to stay the winter and make a basic living, but there's more to the story than meets the eye and before long the plot really kicks into motion. You see, this is a very typical revenge story that involves violence and retribution, particularly in the latter half.

Until that point there's a lot of scene-setting and character-building to get through. This is an extreme slow-burner and although all of the material is interesting, my interest did threaten to wane at points. Still, the denouement is worth the wait, packed with suspense and tension as it is, and the direction is very good. Realism is crucial here and carefully constructed. The Austrian cast is fine, and Sam Riley proves acceptable as the imported British lead; even his German language scenes sounded convincing, at least to this Brit reviewer.

I think it's best to start with what this film does best.

The cast is amazing - every face is one to remember and each do their job very well. The look of this film is also very credible and captures the stunning scenery in a very professional way. I also had nothing to complain about the editing, grading and overall pacing of "Das finstere Tal" - it bears nothing unusual which might jeopardize your enjoyment...

And that's exactly the problem with it. While I was let to believe to see something new I got a very uncreative recycling of things I already know and not necessarily like.

First of all - this "guy comes back to a village for a killing spree to avenge his family" is something we have seen I don't know how many times. Furthermore I didn't get caught by surprise at ANY moment since the story is extremely linear and doesn't contain even one twist.

Film experts always tell me that a great movie shows character development, meaning that at the beginning we have a protagonist who grows over the course of the story and is somehow wiser at the end. This just doesn't happen here. Guy comes, does his business, and leaves, full stop.

I have seen this film at a theater with a friend from Austria. He told me that basically each actor speaks a different dialect (which I started noticing too after he told me). That's interesting since they're all from the same small village. At some point it's almost too obvious, especially when even brothers speak a different "language". This is really sad because it is something that the director was particularly proud of.

The music, well, and there was the music. The low points are definitely beginning and end when some poppy songs are played that aren't even good but rather corny and generic - but one look at the credits hints that one composer is related to the director (so one can imagine how that happened). The rest of the music is an ambitious attempt to sound international - not bad, but not really good either.

Sam Riley really shines and glues this film together. His German is quite credible and he delivers a performance that probably even exceeds the script - which is fairly generic and, like I already said, very linear.

"Das finstere Tal" is further proof that Austrian cinema is becoming a player on international ground. It looks good, feels good and follows known traditions and standards. But on the other hand this is also the fatal flaw of this film - it doesn't surprise at any point, contains no twist and doesn't transcend anything we have seen until now.

If somebody had asked me what I would expect from an Austrian Western before seeing it, I think it would have been a very hard question to answer. With no expectation except Sam Riley's casting in the movie, I started watching it. Just the opening scene thrilled me and attached me to my seat. There is this lone-rider approaching a little village in some snowy mountains followed by a couple of hostile locals. At this point I am aware that I will see some action...

Although it adds nothing new to the Western genre, and most of the characters are stereotypical, it still left an impressive effect on me. The story telling is easy to follow and the surrounding is pictured so dark and gloomy. Sam Riley's performance is incredibly believable and he deserves to be praised for it.

Such great preconditions: a fantastic novel, a promising cast. So how did this movie end up being so mediocre?

1. and most important: They changed the story. They should not have. That's the biggest mistake of all. They should have just adhered to the novel. Nothing would have gone wrong. But they did and subsequently ruined all the atmosphere of the novel. The plot moves way too fast.

2. Pop music as background music? Terrible decision. Not fitting at all. Why not traditional Austrian folk tunes? Why not a zither or a dulcimer? Too obvious? Maybe. But it would have been much more appropriate.

3. The big shoot-out at the end is poorly directed.

4. Why the occasional slow motion? It probably is supposed to make the movie more intense, but it's nothing more than an atmosphere killer.

As mentioned earlier under those preconditions "Das finstere Tal" is a decent movie, but anyone who read the novel will be disappointed.