Starring: Christian Bale, Russell Crowe, Ben Foster, Peter
Fonda, Gretchen Moll, Logan
Lerman and Luke Wilson
Directed By: James Mangold
Rating: R
Christian Bale and Russell Crowe go head to head in 3:10 To Yuma, a gritty western that felt more like a modern day cop drama, similar in
plot and action to 16 Blocks. The film provides a great venue, showcasing broad
acting talent in this strong-willed action thriller.
 Set in the growing west when trains were starting to
blanket the country, the film tells the tale of Dan Evans (Bale), a
down-on-his-luck rancher, being evicted from his land by a land baron who holds
his mortgage. In a strange turn of
events, Dan finds himself with an opportunity to save his home, but at a high
price.
Outlaw Ben Wade (Crowe)
has been captured in Dan’s small town and they need members of the town as
guards to help transport him 60 miles to the nearest town with a train station
where they can transfer him to prison. Wade's bloodthirsty gang presents an
imposing obstacle for the posse, but the greed for money, and their foolish
pride, plunk the “small town heroes” into a unwise situation.
Director James Mangold gives a lot of thrills
by using every camera angle possible to catch all the action of the vicious gun
fighting. Not letting the storyline lag
with a lot of early character build-up, Mangold uses an interesting method of
supplementing the story in between the adrenaline-filled gun fights, and in
doing so, makes it unnecessary to bore the audience with lukewarm plot devices
and snore-worthy dialogue.
His choice of actors is brilliant. If you had
an opportunity to see Christian Bale in Rescue Dawn or Batman Returns, you know
how compelling he makes his characters.
In 3:10 To Yuma,
Bale is right on his game, breathing a lot of courage and heartache into Evans,
the determined rancher that will stop at nothing to get Wade to the train
station for the money.
In support, Russell Crowe captures the fierce
temperament of the reprehensible Wade, and makes the vicious main character
believably disturbing. Ben Foster
deserves praise for an extremely menacing portrayal of gang member Charlie
Prince, an insane gunslinger whose relentless devotion to Wade adds to the
terror the posse has to face.
If there
are some problems with 3:10 To Yuma,
I didn’t find them. I was thoroughly
entertained by the acting, action and storyline. The film should appeal most to males,
mid-teen and over. However, be cautioned
that the killing is realistic, and sometimes vicious. Discretion should be used before allowing
youngsters to see the film.
FINAL ANALYSIS: An extremely good film filled with great
acting and a lot of gun fighting action.
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