3:10 To Yuma
Starring: Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, Peter Fonda
Director: James Mangold
Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama, Western
Rated: R for violence and some language.
Duration: 2hrs
Plot: A rancher struggles to support his ranch and family during a long drought. Desperately needing money to build a well, he takes an assignment to transport a notorious felon, in the hands of authorities, to Yuma for imprisonment. But, once the two meet, the criminal tries to tempt him with–in exchange for allowing him to escape–an offer of much more money than the rancher ever expected.

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My Review: We don’t get as many Western movies as we used to, but films like 3:10 To Yuma may reinvigorate that genre. This was a great action/adventure movie that I really enjoyed, though I’d stop short of putting it up there with Unforgiven. Much like the aforementioned, Yuma has a fantastic cast with Christian Bale, Russell Crowe, Peter Fonda, and even a few scenes with Luke Wilson which was a nice surprise. Yuma is a remake of what’s supposed to be a great movie, though I can’t vouch for that myself. Whether you’ve seen the original or not I think you’re likely to enjoy this version if Westerns or action movies are your thing.

The story flows very well with a quick setup of our bad guy, Crowe, as a notorious wagon thief accompanied by his deadly crew. To offset the dark, evil character you’ve got Bail as the down on his luck rancher who is a loving father and husband. When the opportunity comes for Bail to make some desperately needed cash by escorting the captured Crowe he takes his chances to save his family despite the risks. The majority of the story is consumed by the travels and obstacles as Bail and posse cross the terrain in the hopes of reaching the train station where they’ll send Crowe off to prison. The heart of the action takes place in the final chapter while earlier parts of the movie seemed to move too slow as there were times when I thought 3:10 might never come ticking around. I think they could have easily cut this movie back from 2 hours by 15 minutes to keep the pace going just a bit better, but it certainly wasn’t unbearable. My biggest gripe with the film would be its deviation from reality in its final moments as we witness Crowe, a hardened killer, suddenly grow a compassionate heart in a drastic way. The “Disney” feeling greatly contrasted the rest of the story and I could have done without that.

As I mentioned before the cast is fantastic and makes the entire film a great experience despite the few detractors. I was especially impressed with Ben Foster as Crowe’s main henchman. Foster played Angel in X-Men 3 and had never looked a day past 13 before this role. Foster consistently came across as the meaner, tougher character which surprised me. Logan Lerman, who played Bail’s son, did a great job in a position where the cast sometimes gets thin as it seems difficult to find strong actors for such young roles. The entire cast really comes together well and I wouldn’t have opted for anyone to be swapped out.

Overall, 3:10 To Yuma is an excellent Western that fans of that genre, action movie buffs, and even Bail or Crowe fans will undoubtedly enjoy. There is plenty of violence as it is a gunslinger flick though the blood/gore isn’t too obvious. If you’re trying to pick from the movies opening this weekend I’d have no trouble strongly recommending you to go see 3:10 To Yuma.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars
High Point: Fantastic acting between Bale, Crowe, and even supporting actors
Low Point: Believability of the story/ending; Slow in parts

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