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Notable Characters:
Russell Crowe – Ben Wade
Christian Bale – Dan Evans
Ben Foster – Charlie Prince
Plot (contains spoilers): Dan Evans, an indebted rancher, while out with his sons rounding up their cattle, witnessed a stagecoach robbery by infamous Ben Wade. Wade and his gang take the money and head to the nearby town where Wade gets captured and the men involved decide to take him to another town to catch the 3:10 to Yuma prison train. Evans, who is in danger of losing his farm, volunteers to help in the transfer. Along the road we learn that Evans, while disrespected in his home, is doing this for the future of his family as well as to redeem himself from past failures. Also Wade manages to kill off a few of his captors along the way. Upon reaching the train station Charlie Prince, Wade’s psychopathic right hand man, has caught up to his boss and demands his release. The remaining captors, save Evans, give up for fear of death only to be gunned down. It is here that Wade finally understands why Evans is putting his family and life on the line, redemption.
Reasons why I didn’t like it:
• Enough with the hand held cameras. It wasn’t as bad as Bourne but at times it wasn’t even an action scene. I think the hard part of acting is portraying emotions and sincerity through facial expressions. When you use hand held cameras it is hard to focus on the actor’s faces and that takes away from their performances.
• The movie starts off slow and doesn’t really pick up till about 30 minutes into the movie.
• The ending wasn’t clear. Thinking about the ending I can justify the events so that it makes sense to me and is probably what the director wanted to portray, but that is not my job. It is the director’s job to tell the story not the audience to figure it out.
Reason why I liked it:
• The transfer journey was good. That was where a lot of character development took place, though it was lacking with Crowe’s character.
• Acting was good. I listed Ben Foster in the notable characters because he was fantastic. He played Wade’s right hand man and he was creepy. Christian Bale was great. He had many moments especially a scene he had with his wife Alice. In this scene we learn about his “loser” quality and the desperation he feels and why he needs to do this.
Final Notes:
This movie was a roller coaster for me. At times I didn’t like it, then I loved it, then I hated it, then I liked it, then I didn’t know what I thought. It is a good story with good acting. However, it is also a movie that you could probably wait for video.
Young's Review
The classic American western is not dead yet.
'3:10 To Yuma' proves that, and I am giving it a 'thumbs up'. There are a few flaws that keep me from fully embracing it, however.
Director James Mangold, who also helmed the Oscar-winning 'Walk The Line', did not pick up the pace enough in the first half of the film. Things were moving so slowly, I almost checked out. Fortunately I did not, because the second half picked up considerably.
For my initial review, I will let James take care of the plot summary and just focus on my analysis of the film. The road to redemption for the movie's main character Dan Evans (Christian Bale) was engrossing. Bale was magnificent, wonderfully capturing the tortured sense of responsibility Evans felt to provide for his family. Russell Crowe gave a typically strong performance as notorious outlaw Ben Wade.
The second problem I had was the plot twist at the end. Without giving anything away, I will say that the end did not stay consistent with the rest of the film. It seemed like too much of a stretch of reality. Mangold tried to put a pretty bow on the package and it rang hollow to me.
Although I had some issues with the film, '3:10 To Yuma' still belongs in the same conversation with classic westerns like 'Unforgiven' and 'The Good, The Bad And The Ugly'. The gunfights were entertaining and Mangold made New Mexico look great as a stand-in for Arizona. If you like westerns, give '3:10 To Yuma' a chance. Stick with it all the way through and you won't be disappointed.
Other Russell Crowe Movies
Other Christian Bale Movies
Other Ben Foster Movies
3 comments:
I loved this movie…a good western where the bad guy wears black and though you see the gunslingers re-loading it’s only after they fire off 15 bullets! I will say what makes 3:10 to Yuma a success...there are two great actors Christian Bale and Russell Crowe who share a lot of screen time. What could be better? I draw a comparison to Heat (Pacino and DiNiro) and A Perfect World (Eastwood and Costner) where two great actors hardly ever share a scene. Those movies left me wanting more from the names on the marquee. That’s a mistake 3:10 avoids and goes the extra mile to keep Bale and Crowe together against an amazing western backdrop. 4 guns out of 4!
I like complex westerns. For the most part, the post-Civil War American West has gained a well-deserved reputation as the quintessential setting for high contrast stories of good v. evil. The setting lacks external controls: The law is either non-existent, ineffective, or easily corrupted; the elements are harsh and unforgiving; there is nothing that a person can depend on outside of his own character. Hence, the John Wayne hero. All guts, pride, and self-reliance. The strong slient type. The icon of American will. Most traditional westerns play on this archtype, and most traditional westerns bore me. The over-simplified, unrealistic nature of the John Wayne cowboy presents little insight into the human experience. Sure, those characters are easy to admire and fun to see triumph over the villian du jour, but their stories have little to say about real life.
Complex westerns, on the other hand, reject the simplistic deification of the western hero. Many modern Amwericans feel just as helpless and small in the face of the 21st century urban wilderness as John Wayne looked on the deserts of Arizona. We, though, are not able to solve our problems with an iron will and a six-shooter. That's why I like westerns with flawed characters, guys that are beaten down by the harsh elements, who are just looking for a way to survive, and who sometimes make bad decisions and lose. (Examples? The Wild Bunch, The Left-Handed Gun, The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, Unforgiven)
3:10 To Yuma falls somewhere in the middle. (Yes, I am going to actually address the movie, and it will contain SPOILERS.) I loved Bale's character. He's a classic "everyman" who can't shake his past and struggles to make ends meet in the present. There is no false bravado or glorification of his self-reliance. (Aren't we all unable to rely on ourselves?) I also liked Crowe's outlaw, in the sense that I believed him as a very bad person with some truly redeemable characteristics. When he tried to convince the son toward the end that he really was a terrible person, you could see him almost trying to convince himself as well.
My favorite part of the movie, though, was the allegorical nature of Bale's rancher. He is abused, disrespected, and ignored throughout this film. He cannot care for his family, or protect his property. His son doesn't respect him. Yet, his life is full of examples of self-sacrifice. He lost his leg serving in the Civil War (in less-than-heroic circumstances), he forgoes personal needs to provide medecine for his younger son, he risks his life to earn the money to keep his family together. And in the end, he sacrifices his lfe to redeem the souls of both the outlaw and his own son.
I have not seen the original version of this movie, but I gather that the rancher doesn't die at the end. I would also be surprised if his character is as run-down as Bale's is. Those touches elevate this version of the movie from a simple good v. bad morality tale, into a complex and gripping story of self-sacrificial love.
JIMBO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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