Starring: Christian Bale, Russell Crowe, Ben Foster, Peter Fonda, Gretchen Moll, Logan Lerman and Luke Wilson
Directed By: James Mangold
Rating: R

• Official Site

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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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."