Review of 3:10 to Yuma (2007) by Bryan W — 02 Jan 2017

Westerns are cool, and the remake of 1957's 3:10 to Yuma is just the movie to remind America of that.* Just check out the fantastic cast. Russell Crowe is at his absolute best in the role that all actors dream of playing sometime in their career; that of the effortlessly cool anti-hero. He's a rockstar, suave and dangerous as the notorious outlaw Ben Wade. Christian Bale is just as good, if more reserved, as the humble and reluctant hero and family man Dan Evans. He's brilliant, as always, and together the two actors are dynamite. There's also a handful of great supporting performances: the underrated Ben Foster is creepy and cool as Wade's right-hand man, old-pro Peter Fonda also elicits cool as a rough and jaded bounty hunter, Gretchen Mol is beautiful and understated in her small role as Dan's wife. Dallas Roberts as the guy with the money surpasses the limits of his role, he's a character actor to look out for, and it's always good to see Serenity's pilot Alan Tudyk. Hmm...so did I mention I enjoyed the performances? The directing isn't the most imaginative, but Mangold can tell a decent story. The film is a little slow at times, and there are some momentary lapses in plausibility (How does Dan run so fast with one leg?), but it's a thoroughly entertaining film with plenty to admire.

*(Actually, "The Proposition", "Seraphim Falls", "The Assassination of Jessie James..." and about a half dozen other great movies that have come out since "Unforgiven" could have been that movie, but nobody saw those.).