Cast: Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, Ben Foster

Director: James Mangold

Screenplay: Halstead Wells

Running time: 2 hrs 2 mins

Genre: Western/Action/Drama



CRITIQUE:


2007 was a year of not only good but great Westerns. The humanisation of the usually harsh panoramas of the West was at its most superlatives with the Oscar-seizing NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, the staggeringly complex THERE WILL BE BLOOD, and the achingly exquisite THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD. An addition to that list is a less-feted, nevertheless good, remake of a 1957 Western of the same title. Like most Western tales, this surrounds the outlaw picture and adding in a dash of moral complexity to its characters. Since BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID, these types of films have never been the same again, as we learn to sympathise for the ones who got away with the money, rather than the ones who had been robbed. It works quite noticeably in James Mangold’s remake. He draws a handsome vista of the West, mechanically devising action and awe together, and painting intricate strokes of humanity on the sheer brutality of his canvas.


Of course, we get the A-list stars to bolster this picture, and quite fortunately so. Christian Bale and Russell Crowe’s impressive performances keep the film retain its class. As an outlaw film, we get the insurgents and the pure embodiment of this is Ben Wade (Crowe); a merciless gunman who could blast heads in a matter of seconds. However, as this is the humanisation of the genre, we have character twists lying underneath. In his free time, when he doesn’t shoot men, he either draws on his sketchpad or respects women, and that somehow, somewhere deep within – there’s an artiste coming out and that there is actually a heart buried beneath his black, evildoer mask. His complete opposite is a man of principles Dan Evans, a more moving portrayal by Bale, a local rancher whose stand in life is raising his family through good deeds. In his protagonist, there’s also a father who wanted prove to his son that there are no heroes but only brave men. These two actors working together is the best thing about this movie, each serving as a foil to the other. And at the end, after that whirlwind of shoot-out, there’s a cinematic firework – and that’s because of these two actors giving notable performances. On the meantime, the acting promise lies somewhere else in the presence of Ben Foster’s demented gunslinger. This actor is destined to go far indeed.


And like great Westerns, it revolves around the morally complex threads that connect good and evil together. There is the study of that here in 3:10 TO YUMA. But aside from racing through the nick of time aboard the titular prison train, there is a tad dry middle part that could do away with some shedding, but Mangold keeps the story moving with his actioner wants.



VERDICT:

The onion-layered performances of the moving Bale and the arresting Crowe are glorious to behold, at the same time covering some weaknesses of the film. This is a very good Western rather than extraordinary.



RATING: B+