Review of 3:10 to Yuma (2007) by Sam N — 09 Jan 2013

3:10 to Yuma didn't move me as much as I had hoped it would. Christian Bale's character doesn't really progress through the film, and what begins as righteousness becomes more like stubbornness. Russell Crowe's character is confusing and seems to fluctuate as it pleases without obvious reason - is he bad? Is he good? Is he having some kind of redemption? It is definitely hard to discern his motives for ignoring his entire gang in the final scenes - which, to give them credit, were well-done - and then shooting them all. Confusing, or just lacking explanation.

Another point, which is more of personal preference, was that I thought there was too much shooting. Pistols and shotguns are a staple of Westerns - but when they're happily and endlessly fired off at each other throughout the film they lose their impact. Old pistols and shotguns are incredibly loud and modern films really have the technological capability to show us that. I prefer the approach taken by the modern reboot of True Grit, where the pistols are used sparingly and after the half-way mark - we've been waiting for someone to fire a shot, and when they do, it's incredibly loud.