3:10 To Yuma [DVD]

Being someone who's not a natural fan of Westerns, they have to work VERY hard to impress me. I rented this one only because of the strength of it's cast, and the belief that with such a stellar line-up it couldn't possibly be boring. Luckily it was a good guess. Russell Crowe is charismatic and enjoyable viewing as the artistic soul forced to make a living from lethal violence. He gives a fascinating portrayal of a character who knows his own faults but is a victim of his nature, and is still determined to go free. Christian Bale gives a great effort as a broke rancher with the weight of the world on his shoulders who decides to help escort Crowe's notorious killer for the promise of a fee that will save his home, hoping that it might just earn him some respect from bitter son Logan Lerman, who decides to tag along for the ride against his father's will. The tension between the talented rising star Lerman and Bale's depressed but decent man is very well played, and throughout the film Crowe's bad guy giving an unpredictable shifting compass of risk and amorality that provides a real feeling of imminent danger. Ben Foster is brilliant as Crowe's rabidly bloodthirsty second in command, giving a real element of threat to the chase.
3:10 is varied in events and scenery and never dull. Blu-Ray helps make the film look its very best, and certainly added to my enjoyment.
The characters feel fairly realistic (a touch more so than in most westerns where hokey heroism is more common than it is here).
The violence feels immediate and brutal. The characters feel like they have excellent 'worn-in' depth and feel fully rounded. All in all, I would be happy to buy this to add to my Blu-Ray collection. From someone who generally doesn't like westerns, that's very high praise indeed.

Putting Russell Crowe and Christian Bale together in this movie was a master-stroke. They take opposing roles as the film romps along and the conflict (and then friendship) which develops between them makes for some gripping, nasty and touching moments.
This isn't one of those slowly paced, meandering modern westerns where it takes forever and a day for nothing much to happen. This is a vigh-velocity romp with plenty of wham! and bam! In 3:10 To Yuma the characters develop through blood, sweat and tears (punctuated by gunfire and fist fights).

Bale is a failing farmer, a cripple, who feels he's letting down his family and in particular his oldest son. Crowe is a high-living outlaw, used to ruling the roost and robbing whoever he can. Their paths cross when Crowe is captured and Bale agrees to join the guards who will take the prisoner to catch the prison train (that's the 3:10 to Yuma).

So that sets the scene for a road journey, one where the two men get to know each other, understand more about each other, fight each other, ride horses, sit round campfire, get beaten up -- all that good western stuff. The pace of the film is rapid, so it doesn't sit around dwelling on each point, but clips along to the next fight, the next showdown, the next twist.
There are moments of sweeping action on the plains and in the railroad yards, backed with gritted-teeth drama as the farmer's son starts to admire the outlaw -- his father can't compete with the glamorous gun-slinger who effortlessly charms the women, and provides exactly the wrong role model for the boy.
Bale's character can't quite believe that Crowe really is 100% bad, and that he's completely beyond redemption. Crowe keeps proving, brutally, that he really IS a bad man. Yet in the end, both characters find a form of redemption, via a shower of bullets and a heart-stopping chase sequence. It's one of the best showdown sequences I've ever seen, across the clapboard walkways, through the barns and alleyways and on the roofs of a frontier town.

3:10 to Yuma is over two hours long but it flies by. If you missed it at the movies then definitely watch it now. It's one of the best westerns to come along for years -- all guns blazing...

'3:10 to Yuma' is the adaption from Elmore Leonard's novel and is also a remake of the 1957 film of the same name. The film begins when rancher Dan Evans (Christian Bale) heads into Bisbee to clear up issues concerning the sake of his land when he witnesses a stagecoach robbery, lead by famous outlaw Ben Wade (Russell Crowe). Then, with the help of Evans, Wade is captured by the law in Bisbee and Evans is one of the escorts who will take Wade to the 3:10 to Yuma train in Contention for the reward of $200. Evans' quest for taking Wade to the station is not only for saving for his land but an inner battle that he can be more than just a naive rancher in the eyes of his gunslinging son William Evans. The transport to Contention is hazardous and filled with ambushes from Indians, pursuits by Wade's vengeful gang and Wade's own conniving.

I've not watched a great deal of Westerns, so I didn't really know what to expect from this film, but I watched it anyway as it was directed by James Mangold who also directed some of my recent favourites, Cop Land, Walk the Line and Identity and I was not disappointed by '3:10 to Yuma' at all. The action and excitement is heavy from the get-go and the acting is just top-notch. The standout actor here has to be Russell Crowe who plays the cocky, confident and ruthless outlaw Ben Wade absolutely perfectly. I've never been much of a fan of Crowe but after watching this I wondered what I'd been missing as I thought he did a superb performance. Christian Bale plays Dan Evans very well, although I felt the character itself was rather a let-down as opposed to Bale's acting, as this definitely wasn't his best role I've seen him in. Ben Foster, who plays Wade's right-hand man, Charlie Prince is also an extremely talented actor who I'd seen in some of his previous films like The Punisher, X-Men 3, Hostage and 30 Days of Night and this is without a doubt his most stand-out performance of them all.

Overall this is an excellent film all round that is just non-stop from start to finish and even makes you route for the bad guy the whole way through. Definitely one of the best films of 2007 and will no doubt be one of the best DVDs of 2008. Highly recommended.