James Mangold’s remake of the 1957 film “3:10 to Yuma” stays true to the 1950s Western genre.
However, because of an overexposure of great digital effects and crazy action, a la “Transformers,” “Pirates of the Caribbean” and even the 1993 action packed, genius western classic “Tombstone,” “3:10 to Yuma” may leave you scratching your head.
There is very little action in this movie and a lot of character play.
“3:10 to Yuma” is much like most Western classics such as “High Noon,” which just follows Gary Cooper on a mission to find townfolk to help him in a fight.
The characters are what drive the movie, not the action, and definitely not the special effects.
Christian Bale plays Dan Evans, a sad, poor rancher left with a wooden leg after the Civil War. He may lose his ranch to the railroad company, along with the respect from his wife and eldest son.
Bale plays the part tremendously. I think he was actually overqualified for the role. He plays the character so well that every time he is on the screen you just become depressed. His terrific acting brings the whole movie down.
I thought most of the roles were oddly cast.
Although he plays the role well, Russell Crowe as the eerily charming murderous outlaw Ben Wade is somehow still unconvincing. It took about an hour into the movie to convince me that Crowe was a cowboy outlaw.
Evans desperately needs money to save his ranch from Grayson Butterfield, played by Dallas Roberts (“Walk the Line”) owner of the railroads, who is going to build on Evan’s land unless he pays back the money that he borrowed.
To earn some of the money he needs to pay back Butterfield, Evans agrees to help Butterfield capture Wade, who just robbed another stagecoach filled with money, belonging to the railroad company, and take him to the 3:10 train to Yuma where he is to be transported to prison.
Wade is accompanied by his gang of outlaws, temporarily being led by Charlie Prince (Ben Foster), while their boss is captured.
Foster’s role as the young, enamored, crazy sidekick of Wade was also bizarre, and I’m still not sure if that is good or bad.
There was not much character development with him, he was sort of just shoved in our face, and I found him confusing.
Accompanying Evans and Butterfield to capture Wade and bring him to justice are Doc Potter (Alan Tudyk), the light-hearted town vet; Byron McElroy (Peter Fonda), a strong-willed, hard-ass bounty hunter, who you still aren’t sure is a good guy or a bad guy, Tucker (Kevin Durand), the loud mouth assistant of Butterfield who torched Evans’ barn when he failed to make a payment; and Evans’s son William, who has read much about Wade and finds him very interesting.
Throwing William into the picture gave the movie a great extra story with Evans, his relationship with his son and his son’s admiration for the criminal Wade.
Capturing Wade was the easy part, keeping him captured and alive is another story.
While transporting the criminal to the train, they have a run-in with another group that Wade wronged who want him dead, which included the oddest casting in the movie yet.
Luke Wilson has a small role as one of the people who want Wade dead.
Wade’s gang is also on the trail to cut their boss loose, offering a reward to any townspeople who kill Wade’s capturers, and they have a run-in with some Indians. Even throughout all of that, the many flavors found in my bag of Sour Patch Kids were more interesting.
However, the last 15 to 20 minutes of the film is worth the price of your movie ticket. I won’t spoil any of it, but there are some great heartwarming scenes involving Evan’s son William.
Overall, I would say it was a decent movie, and maybe it would be more understood and appreciated by a man, because there were some cheers coming from the male audience members.
I don’t know, maybe the “Gladiator” (Crowe) and Western thing helps bring out all of that male testosterone.