3:10 TO YUMA (2007)

"Full of tension and grit and pure awe - this is a stupendous "must-see" picture. I encourage everyone to give this film a look. I guarantee you'll never look at westerns the same."

- Adam Frazier

(5/5 Stars)

1 Comments

Director James Mangold ("Walk The Line") brings us a remake of the 1957 Glen Ford classic, "3:10 to Yuma," which tells the story of Arizona rancher Dan Evans (Christian Bale), who is struggling to support his ranch and keep his family's respect in the midst of a sorrowful drought.

Desperately needing money to sustain his ranch, he takes an assignment to transport the notorious outlaw Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) to Yuma for imprisonment. Evans and his son William must lead the self-assured Wade through the desert with the aid of a couple bounty hunters and hired guns.

The road to Yuma is a dangerous one, and Evans and his cohorts must constantly be guarded against Apache raids and the infamous gang of Ben Wade, who is led by Wade's right-hand man Charlie Prince (Ben Foster of "X-Men: The Last Stand"), a no-nonsense gunman with a dead eye and a steel grip.

As the journey continues, Evans and Wade form a level of understanding with each other and eventually fight side by side against Apaches and would-be assailants (including a cameo by a yellow-toothed Luke Wilson).

Bale's rancher character is a man that lives by a code of honor and justice. He's one of those unwavering heroes of principle and reason that we've all heard about. He stands up for his family and fights against the oppressive forces in his life. Ben Evans is the kind of man that will die by the code if he has to.

Crowe's outlaw is amoral and arrogant and everything we wish we could be. We wish we had the guile and the confidence to get away with what he says and does. He's the Han Solo in all of us, the quick-draw bad man with culture and class.

Kudos to Ben Foster for delivering one hell of a performance as the twin-pistol wielding Charlie Prince. He's dark and rugged and delivers some of the film's best lines. He has certainly showed his caliber as an actor here, and it's much higher than I expected.

This is simply one of the greatest westerns of all time and might possibly be better than its predecessor. Not since Eastwood's "Unforgiven" has the American western received such a well-deserved upgrade.

The acting is immaculate, the cinematography astounding, and the music is filled with such western nostalgia that I can feel the vibrations of horses stampeding across the plains.

You feel the impact of every gunshot - you smell the gunpowder in the air as smoke rises from a dead man's chest. "3:10 to Yuma" is consistently beautiful to gaze in wonder at and captures the expanse and majesty of the American west as well as any movie I've ever seen.

Full of tension and grit and pure awe - this is a stupendous "must-see" picture. I encourage everyone to give this film a look. I guarantee you'll never look at westerns the same.

"3:10 to Yuma" is rated R for violence and some language. 117 minutes.