3:10 to Yuma
3:10 to Yuma ***1/2
Directed by James Mangold
Written by Halsted Welles and Michael Brandt
Starring:
Russell Crowe as Ben Wade
Christian Bale as Dan Evans
Logan Lerman as William Evans
Dallas Roberts as Grayson Butterfield
Ben Foster as Charlie Prince
Peter Fonda as Byron McElroy
Vinessa Shaw as Emmy Nelson
Alan Tudyk as Doc Potter
Luce Rains as Marshal Weathers
Gretchen Mol as Alice Evans
117 Minutes(Rated R for violence and some language. )
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The two genres of film that I know the least about because I've seen only a small handful of them are musicals and westerns. When it comes to musicals-especially the more B ones-I just find them tedious and hard to watch. They bug me. Westerns on the other hand just seem to bore me. Except the modern day western, which has been filled with much more grit and guts, but also with more philosophy and more character development. I think the first one that really made me pay attention was Tommy Lee Jones' "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada," a masterpiece observation of alienation and fathers and sons-and its also very gritty and powerful and quite bloody. And then it went out into "The Proposition," a tragic tale of brothers in the west, also very gritty and quite bloody. And now we have "3:10 to Yuma," perhaps the first mainstream and actually profiting western from Hollywood in a long time-I guess since "Open Range," and if that wasn't successful enough than "Unforgiven." And it's just as gritty and bloody as the others, and also equal in the development of the characters, and being a study of two men-the complete opposites of each other-who manage to find a respect in who they are.
Russell Crowe and Christian Bale headline the star studded cast of underrated actors. They play Ben Wade and Dan Evans, two people that are the complete opposites from afar. Dan is a family man farmer, married with two children and trying to make an honest living. He has had enough of Ben Wade, who has come onto his land and set fire to his barn because he owes debt on it. When Ben ends up knocking off a stagecoach for money, he leaves a security man wounded. Dan ends up joining a group of people responsible to bring Ben to justice, so that he could collect reward money. The plan is to bring Ben to the 3:10 train to Yuma to put him in a federal prison to be hung. However as they journey they are being hunted by some of Ben's men, led by the oddly intense Charlie Prince, who seems to have more on his mind than just rescue. And he's also a complete psychopath.
Crowe and Bale are both great, and their relationship really is the main focus, apart from all the gun fights and chase sequences. The differences between the two men are what starts the film, but over time you could tell that even though they are very different, they are just different kinds of men. And there is a small ounce of respect for each other in that particular field. This is the real philosophical portion of "3:10 to Yuma," an element which is popping up in every modern western I see. We'll see what happens this weekend when yet another comes out-"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford." We also have quite a good cast of supporting actors, many of which you'll recognize but probably can't place. In that category is Alan Tudyk, who plays one of the men tired of Ben Wade, who you'll have seen in films like "Death at a Funeral" and "Knocked Up." Ben Foster, who plays Charlie Prince, has been in films like "Big Trouble" and "Hostage," and Dallas Roberts who was recently seen in "Joshua." And then we have vets like Peter Fonda who has a small but effective role. This was like watching "Evening," only with a stronger story and with all men. Director James Mangold, who directed the quite good Johnny Cash biopic "Walk the Line", really seems to have a knack for this type of film, and he pains glorious dusty landscapes, especially the daytime gun fight scenes, and the spectacularly exciting final thirty minutes-the film becomes as great to just bask in the visuals as it was exciting to watch.
"3:10 to Yuma" kicks off the Oscar season with a large bang, and it just continues to show that the western genre is making quite a terrific comeback.
Playing At:
Area Theatres
Directed by James Mangold
Written by Halsted Welles and Michael Brandt
Starring:
Russell Crowe as Ben Wade
Christian Bale as Dan Evans
Logan Lerman as William Evans
Dallas Roberts as Grayson Butterfield
Ben Foster as Charlie Prince
Peter Fonda as Byron McElroy
Vinessa Shaw as Emmy Nelson
Alan Tudyk as Doc Potter
Luce Rains as Marshal Weathers
Gretchen Mol as Alice Evans
117 Minutes(Rated R for violence and some language. )
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The two genres of film that I know the least about because I've seen only a small handful of them are musicals and westerns. When it comes to musicals-especially the more B ones-I just find them tedious and hard to watch. They bug me. Westerns on the other hand just seem to bore me. Except the modern day western, which has been filled with much more grit and guts, but also with more philosophy and more character development. I think the first one that really made me pay attention was Tommy Lee Jones' "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada," a masterpiece observation of alienation and fathers and sons-and its also very gritty and powerful and quite bloody. And then it went out into "The Proposition," a tragic tale of brothers in the west, also very gritty and quite bloody. And now we have "3:10 to Yuma," perhaps the first mainstream and actually profiting western from Hollywood in a long time-I guess since "Open Range," and if that wasn't successful enough than "Unforgiven." And it's just as gritty and bloody as the others, and also equal in the development of the characters, and being a study of two men-the complete opposites of each other-who manage to find a respect in who they are.
Russell Crowe and Christian Bale headline the star studded cast of underrated actors. They play Ben Wade and Dan Evans, two people that are the complete opposites from afar. Dan is a family man farmer, married with two children and trying to make an honest living. He has had enough of Ben Wade, who has come onto his land and set fire to his barn because he owes debt on it. When Ben ends up knocking off a stagecoach for money, he leaves a security man wounded. Dan ends up joining a group of people responsible to bring Ben to justice, so that he could collect reward money. The plan is to bring Ben to the 3:10 train to Yuma to put him in a federal prison to be hung. However as they journey they are being hunted by some of Ben's men, led by the oddly intense Charlie Prince, who seems to have more on his mind than just rescue. And he's also a complete psychopath.
Crowe and Bale are both great, and their relationship really is the main focus, apart from all the gun fights and chase sequences. The differences between the two men are what starts the film, but over time you could tell that even though they are very different, they are just different kinds of men. And there is a small ounce of respect for each other in that particular field. This is the real philosophical portion of "3:10 to Yuma," an element which is popping up in every modern western I see. We'll see what happens this weekend when yet another comes out-"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford." We also have quite a good cast of supporting actors, many of which you'll recognize but probably can't place. In that category is Alan Tudyk, who plays one of the men tired of Ben Wade, who you'll have seen in films like "Death at a Funeral" and "Knocked Up." Ben Foster, who plays Charlie Prince, has been in films like "Big Trouble" and "Hostage," and Dallas Roberts who was recently seen in "Joshua." And then we have vets like Peter Fonda who has a small but effective role. This was like watching "Evening," only with a stronger story and with all men. Director James Mangold, who directed the quite good Johnny Cash biopic "Walk the Line", really seems to have a knack for this type of film, and he pains glorious dusty landscapes, especially the daytime gun fight scenes, and the spectacularly exciting final thirty minutes-the film becomes as great to just bask in the visuals as it was exciting to watch.
"3:10 to Yuma" kicks off the Oscar season with a large bang, and it just continues to show that the western genre is making quite a terrific comeback.
Playing At:
Area Theatres
posted by Eric at
8:29 PM
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