2015 is the year of the western's revival; Slow West turned up out nowhere as a perfectly pitched debut, and Quentin Tarantino has just delivered The Hateful Eight, which stands as his best film in years. With the likes of Bone Tomahawk and The Revenant on the way, it's looking be a little more than a flash in the pan, with the genre returning to multiplexes, drawing audiences in and getting everyone talking. Or maybe not on that latter part. On top of the critically adored Michael Fassbender drama and the star-studded Django follow-up, this year also gave us The Salvation, which people seemed to like, but nobody discussed to quite the same level as what was released around. A cracking western in a more traditional bent than its contemporaries, it stars Mads Mikkelsen and... in fact, that should literally be all that needs to be said. Mads has an indelible eye for good, interesting projects (Doctor Strange and Rogue One must be great then) and consistently delivers stellar performances. It may be a little overt in some areas, leaning heavily on its "twist" reveal that the thing the various gangs are fighting over is oil, meaning we're essentially witnessing the end of the old West. This formed the backbone of Slow West (and has some thematic part to play in The Hateful Eight), but here it's a little obvious. The final shot of oil drills fading into the landscape can't dull what came before though.
