2008 Woodie Awards
3:10 to Yuma makes its mark
John Yehambaram
Issue date: 9/10/07 Section: Intermission
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Movie review
The remake of 1957 3:10 to Yuma fleetingly brings the classic Western genre back to the screen.
It was a great choice for a Western remake because it has all the elements of a classic Western without being too over the top. From powerful humanism to raw gun slinging action, it gives a valiant effort but sadly does fall short in reviving this ailing genre of American cinema.
The story begins with Dan Evans (Christian Bale), who lost a leg in the Civil War and has come to the Arizona territory to try his luck at ranching. His attempt at it is threatened by a neighboring bully who wants to force him off his land.
Ben Wade (Russel Crowe), the quick, gun-slinging outlaw and his ruthless loyal posse open their introduction to the movie by robbing a coach. Through a series of developments that seem almost dictated by fate, Evans finds himself part of a posse sworn in to escort Wade, captured and handcuffed, to the nearby town of Contention, where the 3:10 p.m. train has a cell in its mail car that will transport Wade to the prison in Yuma and to a certain death sentence.
Bale plays not simply a noble hero, but a man who has avoided such risks as he now takes and is almost at a loss to explain why he is bringing a killer to justice, except that having been mistreated and feeling unable to provide for his family, he is fed up and here he takes his stand.
Crowe, however, plays not merely a merciless killer, although he is that, too, but a man also capable of surprising himself. He is too intelligent to have only one standard behavior which must fit all situations, and is perhaps bored of having that expected of him.
Back in the day, America used the western to ponder certain things like the nature of right and wrong and the basis of the social contract. Mangold's movie is certainly louder than its original. The key conflict isn't even between Bale and Crowe, but between the ineffectual rancher, who is not only hobbled by debt, but by a leg wound suffered as a Union infantryman and his 14-year-old son (Logan Lerman). All it takes is one look at Dad's floppy hat, compared to Crowe's stiff-brimmed derby, to grasp the depth of the son's shame.
The remake of 1957 3:10 to Yuma fleetingly brings the classic Western genre back to the screen.
It was a great choice for a Western remake because it has all the elements of a classic Western without being too over the top. From powerful humanism to raw gun slinging action, it gives a valiant effort but sadly does fall short in reviving this ailing genre of American cinema.
The story begins with Dan Evans (Christian Bale), who lost a leg in the Civil War and has come to the Arizona territory to try his luck at ranching. His attempt at it is threatened by a neighboring bully who wants to force him off his land.
Ben Wade (Russel Crowe), the quick, gun-slinging outlaw and his ruthless loyal posse open their introduction to the movie by robbing a coach. Through a series of developments that seem almost dictated by fate, Evans finds himself part of a posse sworn in to escort Wade, captured and handcuffed, to the nearby town of Contention, where the 3:10 p.m. train has a cell in its mail car that will transport Wade to the prison in Yuma and to a certain death sentence.
Bale plays not simply a noble hero, but a man who has avoided such risks as he now takes and is almost at a loss to explain why he is bringing a killer to justice, except that having been mistreated and feeling unable to provide for his family, he is fed up and here he takes his stand.
Crowe, however, plays not merely a merciless killer, although he is that, too, but a man also capable of surprising himself. He is too intelligent to have only one standard behavior which must fit all situations, and is perhaps bored of having that expected of him.
Back in the day, America used the western to ponder certain things like the nature of right and wrong and the basis of the social contract. Mangold's movie is certainly louder than its original. The key conflict isn't even between Bale and Crowe, but between the ineffectual rancher, who is not only hobbled by debt, but by a leg wound suffered as a Union infantryman and his 14-year-old son (Logan Lerman). All it takes is one look at Dad's floppy hat, compared to Crowe's stiff-brimmed derby, to grasp the depth of the son's shame.