I’m not much of a fan of Westerns in general, but I can’t help but look forward to any film starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. 3:10 To Yuma is a remake of a 1957 Western of the same title. Crowe brings a natural charisma to any role, and Bale is putting together a nice body of work with Rescue Dawn, The Prestige, and Batman Begins being recent films of his that I have really enjoyed.
Crowe plays Ben Wade, the leader of a group of bandits. Bale plays Dan Evans, a rancher with a wife and two sons, who is being forced off his land to make way for a new train line. The two characters meet when Dan and his sons stumble upon Ben’s band of outlaws right after they have successfully robbed a stagecoach. Ben takes Dan’s horses, but lets his family go about their business of rounding up their cattle unharmed. The lone survivor of the stagecoach robbery needs medical attention, so Dan takes him into town. Although the bandits split the money and disbanded, Ben stayed in town to be with a woman. Dan runs into Ben once again in a salon, and while they talk Ben is surprised and captured by the local sheriff and his men. He needs to be transported to the town of Contention in order to take the 3:10 train to Yuma prison. Dan is desperate for money, so he agrees to a payment of $200 to join a group of locals to help escort Ben to the train station. Ben’s gang gets word of his capture and are determined to rescue him before he can get on that train. Ben is not exactly the model prisoner. He uses any trick he can think of to try and escape. To make matters worse, Dan’s son comes along as well, against the wishes of his father. There are a few fights and gun battles along the way, and it all culminates at the train station with the arrival of the 3:10 to Yuma.
I’ve never seen the original 3:10 to Yuma, so I can’t compare the two. I have seen High Noon, and this film is similar. Both films are basically a countdown to a big shootout. Both films end up with one lone hero being abandoned by a bunch of cowards as the crucial time approaches. But High Noon is the better film. 3:10 to Yuma just drags on way too long. There is some kind of psychological warfare going on between Dan and Ben, as Ben tries to convince Dan to just walk away and let him go. Dan refuses to back down because he wants to be a hero in his son’s eyes. But that storyline didn’t grab me. And their treatment of Ben as a prisoner just didn’t make sense. They were way too nice to him considering the things he was doing. The action scenes were exciting for the most part, and people die when you don’t expect them to, but the final showdown was a bit too far over the top. Too many bullets were flying, with people not getting hit. The very ending was pure Hollywood, which is not a good thing. I hope the original had a better ending. Crowe was great, as always. Bale was just ok. His role doesn’t really require much acting. Wait for the DVD.
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