3:10 to Yuma

October 3, 2007

Rated: R Runtime: 117 min Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Would I trust the man who wrote and directed the Johnny Cash bio-pic “Walk the Line” to make a good western? Sure! Why not! And so I sauntered into the theater, my spurs jingling with every step. My expectations were high and my ten-gallon hat’s brim was pulled low. And nearly two hours later, when the dust settled, I was satisfied with what I’d seen.

3:10 to YumaYes, it’s the return of “the BIG western”, the one film genre that is more identified with Hollywood and American film making more than any other. As a huge fan, I’ve been more than a little annoyed that westerns have been out of fashion for many years. I guess our America-hating producers, directors and studio heads can’t stand the idea of being associated with movies that portray traditional values and inspire love for our country. But I digress…

Russell Crowe really stretches himself here as he plays Ben Wade, a violent, sociopathic leader of a gang of outlaws who royally screws up and allows himself to get caught by the local constabulary. Christian Bale is the poor rancher Dan Evans whom fate places right in the middle of the situation. Being rather desperate for a break, he uses the opportunity to try and turn his luck around and clear his debts by helping escort Wade to the town of Contention where he’ll be placed on a train (the 3:10 to Yuma, you reckon?), shipped out, and tried for a zillion murders.

The movie unfolds as a great “cat and mouse” game between the makeshift posse escorting this most deadly of outlaws…and his loyal, dedicated gang who are hell-bent on rescuing him. To that end, Ben Foster does an OUTSTANDING job as Wade’s right-hand psychopath, Charlie Prince, who reveals himself to be one seriously bad-ass mofo.

The action is top notch and the surrounding scenery is exquisitely shot, as is expected in “the BIG western”. More importantly, the acting is better than amazing. Crowe and Bale were perfectly cast and Peter Fonda is great as the grizzled old Pinkerton hired gun and, as already mentioned, Ben Foster rules the screen anytime he is on it.

All these positives aside, however, the movie has a serious flaw that I found to be aggravating enough to pull this down from a 5 star rating to 3 stars. Several times in the movie something would happen on screen that would cause me to wrinkle up my face and want to yell, “Bullshit!” Everything from characters acting WAY against their nature…or doing something WAY too stupid for their position…or just violating the laws of nature (such as a character that gets a really NASTY gunshot wound to the gut, loses a ton of blood, but suddenly seems good as new right after a bandage is placed around his belly).

These things were so glaring…and so UNNECESSARY! You could have easily written around all of these things without affecting the story in any way. But, no, they chose to be stupid and expect us, the audience, to be stupid as well. Sorry, but I ain’t buyin’ bushel of bat guano.

Posted by Alex | Filed Under 3 Stars, Action, Ben Foster, Christian Bale, Gretchen Mol, Peter Fonda, R, Russell Crowe, Theatrical, Western 

Seen it? How many stars do you give it?

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (3 votes, average: 3.33 out of 5)
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Comments

3 Responses to “3:10 to Yuma”

  1. Things to add to your Netflix queue : mediaforguys.com on January 7th, 2008 5:38 pm

    [...] 3:10 to Yuma. Christian Bale and Russell Crowe make this one worth checking out even though it only received 3 stars from Alex. [...]

  2. John on January 13th, 2008 11:55 am

    Just finished watching this one, and I hate to admit it… but I agree with Alex.

    I was wondering what the problem was for 99% of the movie and was set to argue his rating, thinking it was 4 stars all the way… then… the ending happened, and I wanted to throw something at the TV.

    If it weren’t for the incredible acting of everyone involved, I’d have given this one 2 stars.

  3. Mack Guffin on February 7th, 2008 12:10 am

    A friend of mine pointed this out. In the movie “3:10 TO YUMA”, in the end credits, you have “Assistant to Mr. Bale”, and such. But for Russell Crowe, it says, “Assistant to Mr. Wade.” (Also Hair Stylist, Makeup Artist, Driver, Stand-In, Dialect Coach, Costumer). Ben Wade is Russell Crowe’s character. So I guess the idea is, he stayed in character on-set.

    Of course, you have to think, wait, why would MR. WADE, a 19th century outlaw, need a Makeup Artist?

    It may just be that Mr. Wade is far less likely to throw a cell phone at an underling than Mr. Crowe.

    Mr. Wade throws a telegraph key.

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