3:10 to Yuma (James Mangold, 2007): USA

Reviewed by Richard Feilden

When reviewing a remake of a film it is hard to ignore its predecessor.  This is why one should never, no matter how great your ego, try to recreate a film like Psycho (I mean really Gus, what were you thinking?  ‘I guess Hitchcock was OK, but I think I can do better’?) as the comparison will never be flattering.  I have it easy though with 3:10 to Yuma as I’ve never seen the original – a mistake I will be rectifying.
So for me 3:10 has to stand on its own two feet, a newborn blinking in the harsh light of the Wild West.  This is no revisionist masterpiece in the vein of Eastwood’s Unforgiven, rather it is a good old fashioned western, with a twist of modern day sophistication and none the worse for it.
Being a Western we need a few things.  For starters we need a cocky bad guy in a black hat and a humble good guy whose headgear is a few shades lighter.  That’ll be Russell Crowe as Ben Wade and Christian Bale as Dan Evans then.  How about a comically naïve doctor?  The far too infrequently cast Alan Tudyk fits that bill.  A posse – check!  Hooker with a heart of gold – check!  A ticking clock, a town without law and natives who don’t warrant any more character than is required to have us cheering when they are mown down?  Check, check and check again.  It’s all looking like business as usual for 3:10.  The story itself revolves around a down on his luck civil war veteran who, in order to save his family from starvation and his ranch from repossession (an early nod to the current housing crisis?), volunteers to help transport a captured outlaw to the titular train which will take him to the gallows.  Surprisingly it doesn’t all go to plan…
It is the performances that lift this film above other genre pieces.  Crowe once again shows his ability to portray a man who others would follow, this time not into war or onto the high seas, but through a series of carefully planned robberies.  He plays Wade not as a blunt-instrument psychopath (that job is left to his scene stealing second in command played by Ben Foster) but as an artist, a careful conductor, an architect of evil deeds.  He even has a hobby, sketching the beauty he sees in the world, in case we hadn’t quite gotten the message!  He is still more than capable of getting his hands dirty though, with a barely controlled rage always bubbling beneath the surface, something overlooked by some who interpret his sketches, intelligence and bible quoting antics as a sign that he is simply ‘misunderstood’.  He is a bad, bad man and Crowe brings him to life.
Bale on the other hand takes the route of less is more.  He internalizes his way though the film as though determined to actually turn himself inside out.  The contrast to the swaggering Crowe works brilliantly and makes the moments when he does reveal a little of his frustration bubble to the surface all the more interesting.
The cinematography is beautiful, if perhaps a little two beautiful.  It could have stood to have reflected the circumstances of the characters a little more fully, as seen in No Country For Old Men where the wide open spaces took on an oppressive, haunting tone.  But this is nitpicking.  Whilst not groundbreaking 3:10 to Yuma is a lot of fun and well worth your time.

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Published:
04.17.08 / 1pm
Category:
Films