I caught two trailers featuring Mads Mikkelsen, probably the coolest named actor there is, never mind the fact that he's a damn fine actor to boot. Both are revenge films but both are handled very differently both in story and in the way the treatment for the trailer has been delivered. One looks like rather an interesting film while the other looks like a comedy - let me point out now that it isn't meant to be a comedy.

There's a film called Age of Uprising: The Legend Of Michael Kohlhaas which transports us to a medieval world where he goes out for revenge from the nobleman of the area who is a pretty rotten character, and then The Salvation which takes us to a classic western with a twist or two, where he goes out for revenge against the local outlaw and gang leader. Both seem similar, but both trailers could not be further apart.

First let me introduce the bad. The American trailer which is nigh on laughable with the voiceover that does play to the whole revenge film idea, albeit in a B movie kind of way. That aside there is a little attraction here to Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas with the trailer coming through Deadline, but the trailer is laughable...and I did, a number of times.

The film sees Mads Mikkelsen playing a respected merchant and family man when a nobleman steals his horses. What follows is described as mayhem which results in him going on a quest of revenge. Despite the laughable trailer the film managed to be awarded a Palme d'Or last year. Watch this and you'll be amazed it managed it.

The cast includes Bruno Ganz, Denis Lavant, David Kross, Delphine Chuillot, Sergei Lopez, Mélusine Mayance, and more. It's directed by Arnaud des Pallieres who co-wrote the script with Christelle Berthevas and is based on the classic story by Heinrich von Kleist ( / ). Who would have thought from this trailer through Deadline?

The second trailer for The Salvation is by far the better, and not just if you prefer Westerns over Medieval films. No it's because there's no ludicrously out of place voiceover and score, and we get a much better feel for the story and the style of the film. Not only does it look like it will capture all the feel of a Western but there are also a number of foreign elements in there, something we tend to forget when thinking about the Wild West.

Plus there's a stronger cast than the first with Mikkelsen supported by Eva Green, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jonathan Pryce, Michael Raymond-James, Eric Cantona, Douglas Henshall and more. Kristian Levring co-writes and directs, I've seen his film Den du Frygter (Fear Me Not) (Filmstalker review) which I really enjoyed, and he writes with Anders Thomas Jensen who has a strong list of films to his writing credits.

In the 1870's a foreign settler kills the people who raped and murdered his family. This, of course, upsets the local outlaw gang leader who is a tad miffed a number of his gang members are now dead. He threatens the town if they don't give up this man, and they indeed do. That leaves the settler only two things to do, seek revenge and kill the outlaws and then sort the cowardly town out. Now that sounds like a classic western, well worth watching the trailer for The Salvation through TrailerAddict for some more.

I know which film I'd plump for on the strength of these trailers.